


Kum & Go

by paintmelilacs



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Christmas Party, Crying, Depression, Drinking, Fluff, Jealousy, Leo avoids confrontation at all costs, M/M, Misunderstandings, Nico and leo have bad pasts, Nico di Angelo is Bad at Feelings, Partying, Sad Nico di Angelo, Shoplifting, Slow Burn, Strangers to Lovers, Tattoos, friendly gambles have been made, gas-station employee!nico, hurt with no comfort 😸, indie type shit, its me so someone has to be mentally unstable, not the main focus but yeah, shoplifter!leo, they talk about britney spears’ ass tattoo, who is whipped for who? ill never tell
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-16
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:21:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 19,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27204451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paintmelilacs/pseuds/paintmelilacs
Summary: Nico is a bored gas station worker and Leo is the ever elusive boy who shoplifts from the store everyday. They find love under the fluorescent lights.
Relationships: Nico di Angelo/Leo Valdez, its complicated! Nico/Leo
Comments: 42
Kudos: 63





	1. Curious

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nico breaks a mutual routine in the hopes of something more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok you weenies you know i had to write something new
> 
> this is a cute little gas station fic set in 2009  
> i say “cute” as if im not about to write angst lol 😀 
> 
> but yeah i actually rlly like this fic and how it came out so if you guys like it too you could show some love that would b great 👍
> 
> *SHOULD BE UPDATED WEEKLY!!*  
> (small chapters, like this one :)

The store was almost always relatively empty.

People walk in, breeze through the few snack filled aisles, peek at the hotdogs that have been rolling on the same stand since 9am, and then slip out the front door without even a chime to document they were ever here.

The chime had been lost during Nico’s first year of employment at Kum & Go. 

It was a slow shift. Nico and his friends had thought it was a fucking _brilliant_ idea to take turns jumping and slapping the top of the door frame, seeing how high they could go. But when someone slapped the frame _just a bit too hard_ , and _just a bit too much to the left,_ the bell fell down with a deafening clang. He still remembers how they all _swore_ to each other never to tell the manager, or else banishment from their little coworker club. 

Nico spares a glance to the same doorframe, that even years later, did not have a bell. 

The door opens, and falls shut without a noise.

_He_ walks in.

He is one of the store’s most frquent customers. Wait, he takes that back. “Customer” isn’t the right word. “Shoplifter” would be more accurate.

He was short and stick-thin, like he was always one missing meal away from being roadkill. His toasty brown skin and head full of mussed curls were usually hidden, draped away in a ratted hoodie too large for him. 

This boy in particular was by far the store’s most frequent shoplifter. Everyday, almost _always_ during Nico’s shift, he pokes and prods around the aisles and leaves shortly thereafter, hands in his pockets. 

He started out real stealthy. Quick as a shark, the nameless boy would come in, look at a snack, and when Nico _thinks_ he’s put it back on the shelf or moved onto the next thing, it turns out it would actually be hidden somewhere in his pocket or sleeve or waistband. Shoes, occasionally.

But then, once he realized he had crossed the threshold of _‘coming-into-the-store-and-not-buying-anything’,_ he realized Nico probably knew, and never did anything to stop him. 

And so, a mutual and wordless relationship began; He would lousily steal a few bags of chips and a drink, and Nico would look the other way.

What? It’s not like he’s getting paid on commission. 

He knew next to nothing about him. But for some reason, because of some _inkling_ deep down in Nico’s subconscious, he had the feeling that he should betray that mutual agreement.

“You gonna pay for that?” Nico said. A bored mumble accompanied his tone. 

He jumped back from the door. The hooded boy slowly removed his hands from his pockets, a twinged smile growing on his face.

“What do you mean?” He asked innocently, “I don’t have anything.”

Nico raised his eyebrows and gave him a look. 

“Okay, okay.” The boy marched over, sneakers making angry little stomps on the greased linoleum. He quickly removed a bag of chips from under his shirt, and a chocolate bar from his waistband. Amazing diet, really. “There. You happy now? Did you _‘stop the robber’_? Did you ‘ _secure the homeland’?”_

From this distance, Nico could see the boy’s face more clearly. He hadn’t really seen it like that before, cause’, _y’know_ , he’s never really come up to the _cashier_ , per se.

His eyes were lampshaded by fluffy brown curls and there was a small mole on his cheekbone. His nose had a curve to it—a _lot_ of things about his face had a curve to it. Like his jaw and his eyelashes....Nico’s not really much of a poet, he’s aware.

Nico also noticed that the boy was shorter than him, which was kind of an accomplishment, and that his hands were marred in tattoos. A diamond on his middle knuckle, a rose on his ring finger, and a tear drop on the side of his pinky.  Little patterns like that and lines scorched the back of his hand to his knuckles and all the way to his fingers, like little inked deltas.

Nico started scanning the items, ignoring the puzzled face he got in return. 

“So,” he said. Nico cracks his knuckles. “Why do you always steal from here? I mean it’s Kum & Go. There’s better places, surely.”

“I do it because im poor, _duh_. I’d thought you’d know that at least, i mean you _work_ here.”

Nico just shrugs. 

He finishes scanning the last item and pulls a card from his wallet, which was blue and had pikachu on it, embarrassingly enough. 

“Hey you don’t have to—“

Nico swipes the card. “It’s whatever. It’s only a small dent into the monthly outflow you cause this place anyways.” He locks his dead eyes with boy. “Seriously. Keep going and you might cause us to go bankrupt. Not that I wouldn’t cry with joy.”

The curly haired leaned forward, his once anxious looking face morphing into one of mischief. His eyes had an unsettling and manic glint to them. It made Nico nervous.

“Oh? Should I keep going then? ....Actually, i’m not gonna to lie, this place is my main source of food, so it would suck if it closed down.”

Nico passes him the bag of chips and chocolate. Somewhere in the midst of their conversation, the boy began chewing a piece of gum.

“That’s weird. Hey, where did you get the—“

The boy grinned and rolled up the sleeves of his black hoodie, revealing a pack of spearmint expertly and securely snuck under the fabric. He also revealed an arm full of tattoos Nico wasn’t given the chance to fully look at.

He grabbed the bag and quickly walked out of the station, pausing at the door to turn his head back and wink at Nico. Fucking _Wink._ What a douchebag.

Nico realized he forgot to get the stranger’s name.

* * *

He came again today.

Nico was in his usual work routine: trying not to kill himself while scanning the items of some annoyed looking nurse, a pack of high school kids, and some construction workers. He let the construction workers get free drinks, as always. The ole’ cheeky bastards.

And the _he_ came in. Right when Nico was about to go on his lunch break. Y’know, _like an asshole._

The boy—wearing a different hoodie today, Nico noticed—was browsing the drink aisle. He grabbed a can of Monster energy, cracked it open, and took a sip as if Nico wasn’t right fucking there.

Nico boredly rested his head on his palm. “I could call the cops on you, y’know.”

He stopped drinking abruptly. A little bit of monster dribbled down his chin. “You wouldn’t. I call bluff.”

Nico smugly raised the corded phone. Leo watched cooly.

They stayed like that for a few seconds before Nico conceded, putting the phone down. He frowned. 

“Okay fine. I was bluffing. Maybe _I_ won’t kick your ass, but my manager will if he catches you.”

“I’m sure he will.” The boy said sarcastically. He sauntered over with that same killer grin he always wore. “But i’ve had a hefty amount of ass-kickings in my life, so really, what’s one more?”

Nico’s _given_ his fair share of ass-kickings over the years, and he kinda believes in the _whats-one-more_ mentality, so he couldn’t argue with that. That would a hypocrite move.

“What’s your name?” Nico blurted. He cursed himself for it. Now he looks weird. _Dear God_ , Nico prayed, _is there a day in my future where i won’t be a complete weirdo? if not—fuck you, you prick. for making me this way._

The boy drank his monster cooly. “Smooth transition. It’s Leo. You?”

_Leo_. It rolls off the tongue. Nico likes it. 

Nico realizes he isn’t wearing his name tag. He hasn’t ever since it got chewed up by that dog a year ago....has it really been that long?

“Nico.” He says. 

Leo smiles, the light catching on his teeth, glinting with mal-intent. He stuck his tattooed hand out and Nico stared at it, blankly.

“Nice to meet’cha.”

* * *

He doesn’t see Leo the next day. Or the day after that.

It was weirdly disconcerting. Is Nico missing him? Or does he just make him anxious? Is Nico _really that desperate?_ He’s a _customer_ for fuck’s sake, a stealing one at that. It’s not like he comes to the store for any reason besides to steal or mooch off Nico, not that he minds.

Percy called today too. Maybe thats what set off his nerves. 

Percy used to be one of Nico’s workmates. _All_ his friends were.

High school, senior year, they all decided to take the job together. Nico being the one who first proposed the idea. It had been a bet; The first one to get fired loses, and all their earnings went to the other players. 

Everyone went wild for the idea. First it was him and Percy and Grover who got the job, then Frank and Annabeth. 

The job turned from one yearly bet into lots of little bets each day. It was amazing. They all had running bets on how many girls would flirt with Percy weekly, and how many Annabeth would shoo off. Bet on how much money a person will spend. Bet on if Grover was coming into work late again, which was a very, _very_ safe bet.

They got into so much dumb trouble that year, it makes Nico remincse whenever he thinks of it. 

It’s just Nico now. And it’s not bad, but, a little lonely sometimes. The phonecalls help with that, unless they go like this:

“Hey Nico! How’s it going?” Percy would ask, the wind blowing in the background. 

And then Nico would say it was going fine, and Percy talked about work or Annabeth or plans or latest drama, etc.

The questions would eventually lead to; “So, where you working at these days?”

To which Nico would reply, “Same old. Still at Kum & Go.”

Percy’s voice would get distant.

“Kum & Go? Man, I haven’t thought about that place in forever.”

And then, “Yeah”. Nico would say lamely. 

And then he would lie about having to go, even though his break was only just beginning.

It didn’t feel good to be forgotten.

Nico drops the thought entirely, waking up from his daydream. Someone just dropped a glass bottle on the floor in aisle four.

* * *

Leo came back the next night. Only this time it was during Nico’s graveyard shift. 

He stumbled in, low-lidded and with slurred speech. It was obvious he had been drinking. Nico watched as he fiddled with the slurpee machine, filling up a cup with red cherry, along with, by the smell of it, vodka.

He mixed the concoction with a straw and walked over to Nico, hopping up on the counter and leaning over.

“You look rather dashing tonight.” He laughed and trailed a finger on Nico’s uniform collar. “The red in your shirt _really_ brings out your eyes.”

Nico sighs. “You’re not going to remember any of this, are you?”

Leo smiled at his drink. Nico liked this smile. His lips were cherry red with intoxication.

“I always remember.” Leo said. “Mind of steel, right here.”

“I’m sure.”

Nico might have liked Leo to stay, but he wandered out the door before he could offer.

In the now-empty store, Nico apprehensively tapped his fingers on the plastic countertop.  He didn’t know if Leo had a ride. It isn’t safe on the streets at this time of night. They’re not in a very good area.

He takes an early smoke break.

Nicotine has been Nico’s vice ever since he was fourteen and knew how to steal them when his father wasn’t looking. Nico didn’t really feel the buzz as much as that first time anymore, but it was calming, and it was safe, and it was something to come home to when the day was rough. 

In the middle of a drag, Nico hears some quiet ruckus from around back of the gas station. 

He investigates, and finds Leo—with only his pants on—belligerently drunk while some old creepy guy macked him down.

Nico threated to call the police, giving the old man the boot. 

He then stopped in front of Leo, frowning down at the boy who smiled back up at him. 

Remains of the vodka-slurpee were drying on his scrawny chest, and _god_. He was scrawny. Leo’s ribs stuck out of his skin and he had as much meat on his bones as there was in a garden salad, but shit. Even his _bones_ were small. It was like his entire existence requires a fuel made of flesh and blood and _Leo_ is the source, constantly being chiseled away at. Nico understands why he steals food now.

He had a lot of tattoos. That was the second most notable thing.

Nico only really saw the the ones on his hands usually, so he didn’t suspect much, but Leo had tattoos just about everywhere. One on his shoulder blade proclaimed “ _FML_ ”, and a shittily inked Shark from Jaws sat on his chest. Grim reaper with a peace sign on his arm. Kermit smoking a joint on his forearm. 

And there was a lot more than just that. Most of them looked shitty and stupid. 

Nico found himself wondering if he could find all of them, and then shut that thought down _real quick._

“My savior.” Leo slurred. 

“You’re drunk.” Nico paused. “And I just saved you from a really bad night.”

Leo waved him off, as if he wasn’t just about to get assaulted. “S’alright, v’ had bad nights before.....”

Nico helped the boy to his feet. He almost slipped a hand around his waist to help walk him into the store, but Nico thought it was a bit too weird, and decided against it. 

He leaves Leo alone in the storefront, and luckily he didn’t destroy any displays while Nico went to the back. He threw the boy an old work-tee, realizing too late that it was Frank’s. It draped like a dress on Leo, stopping just before his knees. Leo still had jeans underneath. He looked someone from the Teen Choice Awards circa 2004.

Leo messed with the hem of the shirt. “I made twenty bucks at least.”

“How’d you make twenty bucks.” It didn’t come out as a question.

Leo gestured to his chest. “By taking my shirt off. Obviously.”

Nico is mildly horrified. “I would have _not_ have talked to you initially if I knew you were going to turn out to be some kind of gas station prostitute.”

“I prefer the term _‘business man’.”_

Nico rolled his eyes. “What were you doing out so late anyway?”

Leo winked at him, or “tried to wink” would be a better term. He kinda just squinted both of his eyes in a mannerism that conveyed it was _supposed_ to be a wink, and that kinda made Nico want to squish his _annoying little head._

“That’s for me to know and you to find out.  Besides,” Leo hopped up on the red plastic counter, “You’re also here, so really I should be asking you why _you’re_ here.”

Nico gave him blank stare. “I _work_ here.”

“Ugh, yeah, but like....like....what do you _do_? You can’t just be at a gas station all the time.”

Leo smiles at Nico, swaying back and forth. He blinked a lot when drunk, Nico noticed.

The question bit. “I don’t know. I’m saving up for....college.”

Lie, LIE. That’s a big fat lie, and Nico knows it. Fuck, if he even said the _word_ “college” his father might hire a bunch of kidnappers to take him there and pay for the whole thing. Crazy bastard....

Leo didn’t reply, just hummed happily. Nico’s not even sure he heard him. It doesn’t seem to matter anyway.

The lights flicker overhead and Nico id reminded about just how much his eyes hurt. The fluorescents start to bore into you after a while.

He walked over to the coffee dispensar and poured a medium cup of house blend. It warmed his hands through the cardboard.

He offers it to Leo, along with a few creamers and sugar packets, who takes them graciously.

Frank’s old work tee has short sleeves. Nico is again reminded of Leo’s tattoos. 

“So. What’s with the tattoos?”

Leo turns his puppy dog eyes up to Nico, sipping the coffee. “Hm?”

”The tattoos.”

“Oh. The tattoos. I just get them cause i like them. Did a lot of them myself.”

Oh. Nico was thinking he might’ve just gotten them while drunk, like he was now. Or maybe he was just a masochist. Leo came with a lot of ‘ _maybe’s’_ Nico noticed. 

“Are you a tattoo artist?” Nico asks.

Leo averts his eyes, brushing his hair down over his face. His mood did a 180. The boy lifted a slender finger and trails it absentmindedly along the inner part of his forearm. Over a tattoo of a date. 

“Um. Sort of.” Leo replies.

Leo’s mood changes up often. it seems like every time Nico says something a different switch was flipped in the boy’s head. Nico almost wants to apologize for asking. He wishes Leo had a user’s manual. 

“I get them whenever I need to work my way through something. It helps me think things through.” Leo traces that date on his arm again. Nico’s eyes stare it down like a hawk, and he managed to get a better look this time—Tattooed in hard, basic typewriter font was _12/20/98._

Nico wonders what it is. A tattoo like that usually marks the date of something _really_ good, or really, _really bad_. It’s only 2009.... What could’ve happened eleven years ago to cause him to get a tattoo? Nico gets lost in thought. 

“Are you mad at me?”

Nico’s head snaps back up. “What?”

Leo’s eyes glaze over his figure. His fingers idly scratch the dirt off the toe of his sneaker. He looks resigned. 

“Well you don’t smile. Wait, that’s an understatement. You have this sort of serial-killer-y look about you—“

_”Serial-killer-y?!”_

”Yeah. You _kindaaa_ give off the impression that you want to violently murder everyone you look at. Little bit of _The Pillow Killer_ type energy.”

Nico....uh. Nico doesn’t know how to respond to being told he gives off the same energy as The Pillow Killer. Who, _if you couldn’t guess by the name,_ strangled about a hundred-fifty people with guess fucking what— _a pillow._

“That’s...that’s uh. Okay.” Nico said. “I’m not mad.”

Leo scrunched his nose. “Okay. Okay cool....You got any tattoos?”

”One.” Nico said. 

He rolled up his pants leg and Leo drunkenly wolf whistled, saying something pervy about ankles.

Nico then shoved down his sock to show a single black dot next to his ankle. “Just to say I got one before eighteen.”

”Wow.” Leo nodded. “That is.... _really_ fucking lame.”

”Yep,” Nico said, rolling down his pants leg. “Didn't want anything bigger. That would hurt more.”

Leo sighed dreamily, leaning against a pole connecting the counter and the ceiling, shifting his hooded eyes towards Nico. He smiled and his eyes glimmered. It made Nico’s heart thunder.

...wait, wait. That’s wrong.

On second thought, his smile looked _sick_. 

”It’s all about the pain for me, baby.”


	2. Drunk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nico gets invited to a party. It goes about as well as you’d expect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mkay, so kum & go’s uploading schedule is once a week every monday. it is decided.
> 
> uploading this at nearly two am while i have to finish a bajilllion math assignments before the morning 😀 i have a phat F
> 
> bit of a long chapter this week, sorry! buts it drama filled :0

Nico didn’t go to work today.

It’s not a big deal; he’s known his boss, Mr. Starnes, for like, _ever_. Ever since he was a tight-lipped and shifty seventeen year-old who fought basically anyone who was up for it. Seriously, Nico thinks he split his knuckles at least every other week. They used to clash heads a lot, since Starnes was a tough love kind of guy and Nico wasn’t really used to “love” in general. 

The entire exchange was basically, _“i’m not going to work today”_ and _“okay”._

Nico isn’t a quitter—he _swears_ he isn’t. He just didn’t think he could _do_ it again. Not today. It brings a shudder down his spine. _Not today._

Nico likes his job. He thinks. It surely got more interesting when Leo came around, but did he genuinely like it? Only God knows. Nico’s gone dopamine blind. 

But the thought of going into work _today_ made Nico want to put a pillow to face and fucking _scream_. Working at Kum & Go was constant bombardment annoying middle-aged white women and underage kids trying to buy cigarettes and high-school chicks trying snd failing to subtlety flirt with him.

Ugh. _High-school girls_. Nico would much rather put his head between the hot plates of a waffle iron than deal with their _wrath_. 

The downside to this? No money. And he’s missing out on his chance to see Leo. 

Nico shuts down the feeling he gets when he thinks about the boy. Leo probably doesn’t care about him anyway. He seemed like that kind of person. He was, _quite literally_ , using Nico for free food. 

But Leo was a confusing person. And Nico was, admittedly, kind of stupid. 

He instead traded his work day in for socks, sweatpants, beer, and the DVD copy of _ZOMBIE-LAND_ he had _initially_ bought accidentally, and then ironically it became one of his favorite movies. _Lets just say movie night four months ago wasn’t as scary as he intended._

It was in the middle of Woody Harrelson’s famous _“time to nut up or shut up”_ line—and in the scene where Jessie Eisenberg is sliding underneath Tallahassee while the fattest fucking zombie to ever _walk_ gets his face dented in with a baseball bat—and it _should_ have been the most entertaining fucking thing Nico’s ever _seen_ (for the millionth time), but all he can think about is how fucking _lonely_ it is.

Nico tilts his head back on the top of the couch and closes his eyes. Closed his eyes to make the world turn off, just for a little while.

Sometimes he thinks he lives in his own version of Zombie-land. Except in Nico’s Zombie-land theres no zombies and he’s got no Tallahassee to fight beside him and no Wichita to pine after. 

He’s just alone. 

* * *

The week that followed Nico’s day off was slow. That was until Nico got a new coworker.

His name’s Charles; A sixteen year old high-school kid with a punchable face and a snub nose. 

Nico’s neutral about him, only because his work load has been lessened and the attention from the giggly high-schoolers had been diverted. For now. They always come back. _God, how they always come back._

But now, mostly, Nico just sits in the back and flips through magazines while eating chili-cheese fritos. It’s a good life, boring, but good. Nico doesn’t mind fritos.

His perspective changes when Leo walks in.

The boy doesn’t notice the new cashier immediately—why _should_ he if he just steals his shit and leaves? To his knowledge it’s just Nico around here anyway.

But it’s _not_ just Nico anymore. So when Nico looks up from this month’s edition of _Thrasher Magazine_ and finally notices the boy blatantly tucking a bottle of Arizona iced tea into his hoodie, he shoves the frito bag frantically off his chest and licks his fingers.

“Hey!” Charlie yells, a slightly nasaly sound to his voice. “Are you gonna pay for that, kid?”

Leo whips around—eyes wide and scared, like a deer in the headlights—until he notices that the cashier is about 5-foot-nothing and isn’t even old enough to legally vote yet.

Still, the boy’s eyes frantically find Nico’s and he sends him a pleading look.

Fuck. _Motherfucker._ Lie, _lie_. Where’s a good lie when you need one? 

“Hey, no worries.” Nico says, trying to sound calm. “That’s my friend, uh, he comes here a lot.”

Nico mentally slaps himself. That _._ _That_ was the best he could come up with? _He comes here a lot?_ That is just _sad._

Leo nods his head quickly, unaffected by Nico's lousy excuse. 

Charlie doesn’t look too impressed. “But I saw you try to steal that tea. Do I need to call the cops?”

Charlie picked up the store phone threateningly, and Nico mentally notes to _never_ give that kid _any_ type of power or blackmail because _holy shit he will turn evil dictator on them._ It’s not like theres a robbery at gun point for fuck’s sake.

Leo threw up his hands. “Ay man, it’s a bottle of Arizona iced tea for fuck’s sake—I mean—who are you? _Get off my dick!”_

Charles scrunched his nose. “I’m not _on_ your dick—“

”Okay, okay,” Nico waved his hands.“ _Nobody’s on anybody's dick._ Let’s all just be _calm_ about this, and...” 

Nico’s hands creep up next to Charles’, who takes no notice until he quickly snatches the phone from his hands. 

“ _Hey—!”_

Phone now in his hand, Nico declares himself the winner of this one.  “Alright Charlie— _I’ll_ pay for it. Just shut the fuck up and maybe I won’t call home and tell your mommy what you’ve been telling those high-school girls, huh?”

Charles pleaded with Nico with his big, droopy puppy dog eyes.

Nico raised his brows. “Deal?”

“Fine.” The boy snatched the phone away and set it down forcefully. Leo snorted from across the room. 

Nico walked briskly over to Leo, snatching his arm and leading him out the back entrance. He was going to show him _The Spot._

“Hey! It’s not your break yet!” Charles called after him.

“It is now!” Nico called back. 

“What? Why—“

Nico raised his middle finger, Leo snickering by his side. _“Because I said so!”_

The door closes behind them, making that crackly noise every old door does when their hinges are moved a little too quickly, and Nico leans against the wall. Leo was close next to him, snickering and covering his mouth with his hand. 

“What a loser.” He snorts.

“Yeah. Just got him in today. A new solider. he hasn’t even had to clean the bathrooms yet. He’s going to be so traumatized when my boss is done with him.”

Leo snorts. You’d think it’d be an unattractive sound but it weirdly wasn’t. Or maybe it was just Nico. “Yeah I wonder what the bathrooms at _Kum & Go_ look like.” 

The boy wiggles his eyebrows at Nico and he sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. 

“Okay, okay. Get them out now. While i’m only _mildly_ suicidal.”

“Get what out?”

“The jokes.”

That was enough invitation for Leo. 

The boy started spitting out material about every aspect of the shitty gas station store, most of them playing off it’s horrible name, Kum & Go. 

And believe Nico when he says he’s just about heard them all. Jesus—he could have picked a more _normal_ gas station to sell his soul to at least. 7-eleven was probably hiring, but _no_ , Nico’s seventeen year old self wanted to work at Kum & Go. _Fucking Kum & Go. _All because he wanted to spite his father. 

The jokes had only gotten exponentially worse since he found out he was just about the gayest creature to walk this earth. 

He’s heard all the, “ _Haha, I bet thats what you do to guys, Nico”_ , and the sad thing is, _yeah. Fucking yeah._ Kum n’ Go kinda _does_ kinda describe all of his previous relationships, of which haven’t lasted more than two months at a time.  Nico’s not salty, just bitter. Which are two _completely different_ things, by the way. Nico’s going to die a bitter, _bitter_ man and he’s going to fucking _love_ it.

That brought him back to Leo’s rant. 

“I mean Jesus Christ, how do you think the board meeting for that went? Someone proposed the name _‘Kum n’ Go’_ and fifty guys in suits were like, ‘ _yeah, that’s a fucking sick name.’_ They might as well have just named it Jizz and Jet, or Shoot n’ Scoot—like, just change the whole store at that point, man. Sell sex toys.”

Leo laughed down at himself. “I mean, _shit_.”

Nico nodded. It occured to him that Leo talked purely for the sake of talking. It didn’t seem to matter to him if Nico was listening or not.

Nico kinda liked it. Normally he would have already decked someone who talks as much as Leo—but he doesn’t have to pay attention when Leo talks, which is oddly relieving.

Nico also decided he needed a smoke. 

He turned around, Leo looking at him quizzically as he pried open the old electrical covering on the crumbling concrete wall. There was hole behind it sand he slid out the pack of cigarettes that were hiding inside. 

Leo whistled. “Look at you, Mr. Gas station man. Sexy _and_ smart. You must pull _all_ the ladies.”

_I’m gay._ “I do alright.” 

Nico lights a cigarette and takes a long puff, exhaling the smoke through his nose. 

He offers Leo one but he turns it down, turning to Nico with a killer gleam in his smile and eyes that light up in the sun like gasoline in a bonfire.

“Nah, no thanks man. I’m already high as shit, so, no need to add nicotine on top of that.”

That breaks Nico from his stare and a small smile spreads across his face. He inhales and opens his mouth to say something—and them is shut down completely by a series of sputtering coughs.  Nico had somehow forgotten there was a lit cigarette in his mouth.

The cig dropped to the ground and Nico hacked up his lungs, trying to swallow the coughs that just _kept coming,_ and Leo laughed his ass off. 

“It’s—it’s not funny.” Nico coughs. 

“Oh but it _is_. It _so_ is.”

Grabbing the cig off the ground, Nico scowls at Leo, who supresses a giggle. 

Once they settled down again, and Nico had gone back to smoking quietly, Leo looked to him, eyes squinting from the sun.

“So, are we like, friends now?”

Nico thought for a second. About Leo’s laugh and his dopey smile, and the way he spouted every thought on his mind, and his baggy streetwear _that made him look so—_

“I think so, yeah.”

“Cool.”

_Yeah_. Nico took a puff of his cigarette. _Cool_. 

* * *

Nico pops his head up when Leo walks into the store. Its been two weeks after their initial meet.

He hops over the counter with all the gracefulness of a newborn giraffe and grabs the boy’s skinny tan wrist, stringing him along.

“Wha—“

“Come with me.”

Nico takes him into the storage closet behind the front desk. At first, it isn’t much to look at. Just a 6x4 sad excuse for a closet with a bucket, a mop, a big jug of bleach, and a few other miscealonous supplies. A big black sheet covers most of the back wall.

“You planning to kill me in here or somethin’?” Leo looks around the room quizically. “Are there pillows in here?”

_(Huh, so he did end up remembering that.)_

Nico shook his head. “Sorry, I just had to make sure Charles didn’t see this. He can’t know about” —Nico reached down and pulled out two tiny pins holding the sheet to the wall with a flourish— “ _this.”_

Turns out there was _not_ a wall behind the sheet, but another room. Nico bowed down awkwardly and gestured grandly to the door, encouraging Leo to step through it.

Leo did, and he found a slightly bigger, damper, and more decked out room than the storage closet. It had two bean bag chairs squished together on one end, a shottily hung cabinet on the wall, and a big plastic container—like the ones you’d store christmas decorations in— that acted like a table for a small TV. 

“ _Voila_.” Nico said behind him.

“Wow,” Leo deadpans, “This is incredible. How much did it cost you, twenty bucks?”

Nico scoffed. Clearly Leo does not understand the historical importance of this room. Nico’s not sure _how,_ it practically permeates through the room. Those beanbag chairs are practically _thrones_. 

“Uh, _no_. Be grateful. This was the room me and my friends used to hide in when there was no customers. See—the room had been closed off due to water damage, and our boss wanted to wall it in but when the walling guy came over we gave him ten bucks and told him to fuck off. We put this sheet over it and pimped it out. All these years and he _still_ doesn’t know about it.”

Nico refrains from informing Leo that him and his friends used to lovingly refer to this spot as the _“Kum Kave.”_

“Dude.” Leo gave him a look. “He probably knows.”

Nico gave him the middle finger and crashed onto one of the beanbags, coughing when dust flew up.

“I thought you said you’re been back here all the time.”

Nico hadn’t thought about that. He was mostly just focused on impressing Leo, for whatever reason.... Actually no, _there’s no reason._ Nico prefers not to dwell on introspection. Nope. No reason. 

“Well, I guess I haven’t really used it in a while. I’m usually the only one working, but....I just figured....”

“No, no.” Leo said, flopping onto an equally dusty bean bag. “It’s cool. This is cool.”

Nico smiles. The movement felt unnatural. 

He spends the rest of his limited amount of _how-long-can-i-dick-around-without-charles-or-his-boss-noticing_ time trying to get the TV to work. He almost kicked it out of anger when Leo stopped him and told him he would fix it sometime. Cause _apparently_ he knows how to do that, which Nico highly doubts. 

He agreed to it anyway. 

“So.” Leo began. He began fiddling with his fingers, something he does a lot, Nico noticed. The boy tapped his thumb to his pinky, then his ring finger, then middle, index, and lastly, thumb. “I was invited to a party this week.”

“Uh-huh.” Nico said, still focused on the boy’s nimble fingers and the little markings of ink on them. He wants to take them into his own hands and inspect all the little tattoos.

“It’s like—a house party? Sort of? I-i don’t know how many people are gonna go, and it’s this Saturday, but I was wondering if you’d like to go? With me? Maybe?”

Nico snapped out of his trance, thought about it, and shook his head. “Nah, I have plans Saturday.”

“Plans” is a strong word. What Nico actually means is that he goes over to Frank’s on Saturdays, for video games. Frank insists on it. 

Leo stops twiddling with his fingers. “Oh.”

Nico’s about to say something related to the TV, when he hears his name shouted from outside the hide out. 

“Nico!!”

“Oh shit.” He hops up quickly and dashes out of the Ku—the forbidden closet. 

“This guy’s trying to buy cigarettes and—“ Charles gives him an incredulous look. “What are you doing in the _storage closet?”_

“Seeing how fast I can chug bleach.” He deadpans.

Charles stares at Nico, as if to say _“No, really?”._

Nico scowls and snaps his finger’s in front of the kid’s face. “ _None of your business,_ dickwad.”

Nico buys the man his cigarettes and Leo sneaks out of the closet and out the door without a sound, tip-toeing the whole way. 

* * *

Nico swears he’s a good driver. He _swears_ on it.

It’s just sometimes you gotta talk on the phone while you’re doing it. 

It’s just multitasking, right? _(...Right?)_

It’s Frank, making sure everything is good for Saturday. Nico’s not really sure why he calls everytime, but Frank has always been kind of punctual like that. He was the double-triple sure kind of guy, probably cause his grandmother branded it into his head when he was younger. Nico’s other friends from high-school were pure chaos, so it was always kind of a question of how he fit in, but he just _did_ somehow. 

“—Anyways, so do you remember that dick from Gamestop I was talking to you about who wanted to give me, like, five bucks for my COD? Yeah, he tried to sell me a used GTA 5 for _twenty-two dollars._ What a bag of dicks.”

Nico made a left hand turn, pressing the phone impossibly tighter to his ear. “Sounds great, Zhang.”

“Oh shut it. Be nice or I won’t let you play the VR on Saturday.”

Nico faux gasped. “ _You wouldn’t.”_

Frank’s voice crackled over the phone speaker. “Try me. Then your sorry ass would have to find something else to do this weekend.”

Nico bit his lip. _Just wait until he hears this..._ “Oh yeah? Well, I did get invited to a party this week, _so_. Hold your applause.”

Frank was quiet for a moment. “....A party?”

“Mhm.”

“....Shit, Nico. Why aren’t you going? You never have plans for the weekend.”

Nico frowns. “What? I-i didn’t want to ditch you. I thought that’s what you wanted.”

“What I—Nico I have you over every other saturday _just_ so you get out of your house. I’m pretty much the only person you see.”

“I see plenty of people!” Nico protested.

“Oh yeah?” Frank challenged. “Name one.”

_Leo_. “.....”

“That’s what I thought. Who invited to you? Some hot girl— _boy?”_

“No! N-no just someone from work.” Nico sputtered. 

Nico cursed as he nearly ran a red light. He pumped the brakes. Frank kept talking.

“Wait—are you talking about that sixteen year old kid that just started there? God—Nico _please_ tell me he didn’t ask you to go as anything more than friends, i mean i love you man but I don’t think I can—“

“Ew! No, what the fuck. Charles...? Christ no. No. It was someone else and we’re just friends.”

“Friends or not, you’re still going to that party.” Frank said.

“Frank, don’t do this—“

“Go. to. the. party. I will lock you out of my house. Even worse, I will tell your sister your being a recluse. Just—don’t show up on Saturday, got it?”

“Frank wait—“

The line hung up before he could resort to begging. Nico let his head fall onto the cars steering wheel with a long drawn out beep.

* * *

The party was awful. 

The music was too loud, the drinks were too potent, and Nico was left hiding in the corner like some unattended loser. 

It was a college party, that much he could tell by the _Alpha-phi-chai-pho-whatever the fuck-omega_ shirts. _Fuck_ those shirts. Nico doesn’t know what the name means _and he’s not gonna start looking it up now._

He hasn’t even seen Leo yet, hasn’t seen him since Nico was _invited_. He got ghosted, basically. _Ghosted_. That is _so_ fucking pathetic. 

His head hurts. He can’t stop shifting his feet. Nico wants to go home and sleep for an unprecedented amount of time. Like, so long it borders comatose state.

Somebody bumps into him. 

It’s a girl, dressed up in skimpy cheeta-print dress, gorgeous straight hair cascading down to her waist. Her drink sloshed a little over the side. 

“Oh my—I am so sorry!” She gushed. 

“It’s okay.”

_It was not okay._ The fruit punch droplets covering his long sleeve shirt was _not_ okay, and probably would have been the last straw if not for Nico’s _amazing_ fucking composure. 

_I am the epitome of calm and composed_ , Nico thinks, seething and actively keeping himself from throwing punches.

“Oh please, I shoulda buen more careful,” She brushed down the chest of his shirt in attempt to clean it. It was not working. “Should probably stop drinking for the night too then, but the show must go on, right?”

She cheers him even though he has no drink, then readjusts her skirt from hiking up. Nico can’t tell if she was hitting on him or if she was Just Like That.

“So, are you waiting on someone here?” She asked.

Nico nodded. “Yeah, uh, my friend. But I don’t know where he went.”

She nods at him, interested. “ _Wellllll_ , i’ve heard that when you can’t find someone at a party it’s _probably_ because they’ve gone upstairs for sex, but there are usually a couple rooms open up there for partying too, if you wanna look. I’m Amber, by the way, incase you want to find me later.” She winked.

Nico thanked Amber for the advice and headed upstairs, avoiding the locked rooms and the ones he heard obscene thumping noises coming from. He found a door at the end of the hallway. 

A dude crept out of the room he had been spying on, teary eyed and with a mustache that takes control of his face. The impossible-to-miss stench of weed creeps out after him and he closes the door. 

He nudges Nico as he walks out if the door. “They’re fucking crazy in there, man....”

Nico shrugs and hesitantly opens the door.

There’s a group of kids sitting on the bed and taking turns hitting a bong. A few on the floor trying and failing to play monopoly. One girl with long dreadlocks looked too stoned to stand, and she drooled onto a pile of fake money. 

Nico recognizes Leo by the back of his hoodie and his head of curls. He was one of the ones on the bed, talking and laughing, getting lightly punched in the shoulder by another. 

“Uhm, hey.” Nico says. 

Someone looks at him and nudges Leo’s shoulder. The boy looked around, and when he saw Nico his eyes widened and he got off the bed.

“What are you doing here?” He questioned, a stilted laugh at the end. 

“You invited me?” This. This is embarrasing. An entire room of people, _cool looking people,_ are staring at him blankly right now. Like they’re waiting for him to leave. 

“C’mon, c’mon. Let’s go outside.”

Once outside the door, Leo turned to him. “Sorry about that.”

“Why wasn’t I allowed to stay?” He asked, slightly miffed. He shoved his hands into his pockets.

“No offense Nico, but you’re kinda lame. I mean, you could have at least taken off the uniform shirt before coming here.”

Nico frowned down at the red shirt peaking out from underneath his hoodie. He shrugs.

“But it’s alright,” Leo said, flipping the hood of Nico’s sweatshirt up and over his head, “I was just about ready to leave anyway. I gotta go find a couple people, but i’ll find you again when i’m ready to leave, kay?”

“But—“

Leo patted him on the back and jogged downstairs. 

Nico sat on the top of the stairwell, picking at his fingernail beds. 

This is stupid. Why is he even here? It’s a party, _Nico doesn’t do parties._ And Leo’s not even here to keep him company, so what’s the point?

Nico felt like he needed to hit something. And so he did, before reeling back in pain because the thing he decided to hit was the wall. 

His knuckles, upon further inspection, had no split. Nico punched the wall again. And again. And again, until the couple having sex in the room over yelled at him.

Nico was satisfied by then, and while his knuckles weren’t yet split, they would be bruised by next morning. 

Punching the wall wasn’t the same as fighting, because, well, _the wall never hits back_ , but it was an okay alternative. 

Then, Amber came up the stairs. 

She was crying, and _very clearly_ had not stopped drinking after Nico last saw her. She was also soaking wet, like she’d taken a dip in the pool.

Amber sniffled and fell into the wall.

”Woah, _woah_ , _hey_...hey....Easy.” Nico took her elbow and helped her up the stairs. She sobbed incoherently into his chest.

He brushed the hair out of her face, unsure of what to do. She smelled like spiked fruit punch. “What happened?”

 _”My ex happened.”_ She sniffled. “He— _he_ , and i—“ She broke down into a fit of tears and hiccups, mascara streaming down her face. _Poor girl_ , Nico thought. 

“It’s, uh—it’s okay....” He patted her hair awkwardly. She hiccuped again.

Downstairs, Nico could hear a distant voice, a man’s, yelling, _“Amber? AMBER! Where the FUCK did that bitch go?!”_

Nico grimaced. He might not be the hero type but he had enough of a conscious to know he shouldn’t leave her to that man in this state. He slowly walked Amber to the last open bedroom upstairs, placing her on the bed. He shut the door gently.

“I’m sorry.” She sniffled. “This was s’pposed to be a fun night. But i-i always fuck _up._ _How?_ How do I _always_ manage to fuck things up?”

Her tear stained face looks at Nico for answers, of whom turned around and then pointed to himself, mouthing _“me?”_

”And now i’m talking about all my problems to some stranger who doesn’t even know me. _Amazing job, Amber._ Ugh.” She blew her nose into the corner of the sheets. “I hope this bed doesn’t belong to someone nice. Like, someone who donated to children’s cancer or something. Is it bad that I don’t do that? I just emptied my nasal cavaties onto their sheets. These are such nice sheets....”

Nico started to slowly back out. 

“Please don’t go.” Amber pleads. 

Nico sighs. Curse his morals. “Okay. Do you need anything?”

”Yes” —she looks down at her dress in disgust— “I _need_ this dress off. It’s—my ex made me buy it and I look like a goddamn _stripper_ , i...i need it off. Help me?”

Nico shrugs and walk over. The zipper on the back was hard to reach and cheap, it stiltedly came undone as he unzipped her, catching on little threads and bumps on the dress.

The zipper only came down halfway on the dress, so Nico got on his knees and started to wiggle it down her thighs. Amber sat half naked, holding her boobs to her chest with her hand. 

“You’re such a gentleman.” She sighed, speech slurred. “My ex would never. Your girlfriend is a lucky girl.”

”Don’t have one.” Nico answered, still shimmying her dress down.

Amber hummed. 

She breathed heavily and put a hand on his shoulder. 

“What—“

Amber surged her face down and kissed him, sloppy drunken lips on his own. She tasted like Strawberry Hills wine. Nico doesn’t react at first. 

“Nico?” A shattered voice calls behind him.

Nico whips around to find Leo at the door, looking shaken and lost.

Oh. _Oh no._ Leo is at the door, and Nico....Nico is kneeling before a mostly naked woman in a dimly lit and empty room. Oh...... _no_.

He knows how it looks. 

“Okay, this is _not_ what it looks like—“

Leo throws his hands up. “What are you talking about? _Literally in what other situation would this be happening?”_

Amber burst into tears. _“IM SORRY!”_

”No, no _i’m_ sorry, _Amber_ , that you were about to have sex with a _gas station worker_ who _probably_ has at _least_ one strain of herpes—“

Nico approaches Leo and starts hurrying him out of the room. He calls to the girl over his shoulder. “It’s okay Amber—“

“No”—Nico has to hold Leo back as he drags him out of the room—“No, FUCK YOU AMBER! _Fuck you!”_

“HE DOESN’T MEAN THAT! YOU’RE A VERY NICE GIRL AMBER!” Nico pauses. “AND I DONT HAVE HERPES!” He yells as an after thought.

Nico slams the door shut and stands protectively in front of it, blocking it from a fuming Leo.

“For your information—“

“Listen Nico, I don’t care whatever the hell you were doing with _Amber.”_ He mocks her name and waves his hands around. “I don’t want to know about your sex life. I just want to leave.”

“Whatever you want, Leo.” He huffs angrily. 

* * *

They go to taco bell. 

Nico and Leo sit quietly in Nico’s car, eating their food. It had been a little awkward since Nico’s whole Amber thing. He’s not really ready to forgive Leo yet for making a scene. 

He shouldn’t have gotten so upset over that. It’s not like him and Leo are—are an _item_ , or together, or something like that...but he reacted as if Nico was cheating on him or something. And then was immediately okay with it afterwards, asking Nico to take him to Taco Bell.

Leo moaned a little too realistically into his bean burrito. He had begged Nico to pay, and even after he agreed he quickly tacked on a frozen baja blast to the order so fast Nico had not time to react. Little shit. Those things are like three whole bucks.

The boy takes a sip of baja blast. “Sorry about the party. I wasn’t having a good night—you were about to, clearly—but i didn’t feel good today.”

“It’s okay.” Nico said. Even though it kind of wasn’t. 

He buries his mouth into chalupa instead. 

“It’s kinda funny in hindsight.” Leo said. 

“What is?”

”Y’know,” Leo wiggled his eyebrows, “ _Amber_.”

Nico doesn’t understand how Leo goes from screaming-match-angry about something to joking about it in the span of an hour. 

“Didn’t know you were into hispanics.” Leo finished.

Nico didn’t even notice she was hispanic, if he was being honest. 

“Who were those people with you?” He asked instead, through little crumbles of beef. 

Leo pushed in and pushed out the seat buckle. Nico’s sure he has some form of ADHD. “Just friends. Nobody you need to know though. They’re kind of lame.”

“I thought you said _I_ was the lame one.”

Leo threw his hands up with a grin. “Were all lame! Fuck it! The whole damn world, and not a single cool person. Nothing matters. That’s my take.”

Nico just shrugs again. He’s been doing that a lot. Great. He feels kind of self-conscious about it now. 

“Hot take. Kinda sad.” 

“Our existence is sad, gringo. I’ll leave this world just how i came into it. Wanna know how?”

”How?” Nico asks, chewing his food and actually interested in the answer for once. Maybe it had some insight into who Leo was, or how he grew up, which is something he never _ever_ talks about. 

Nico did not anticipate his next words, though.

Leo smiled, it looked hollow. Forced....unnatural. A little bit of bean and rice stuck to his teeth.

”Kicking and screaming and ready to die.”


	3. Jealous

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things are happening. Why are they happening? Nico has no fucking clue. He needs time to think.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok im so sorry for this post being late! (its wednesday and it was supposed to be uploaded monday >~<) i just got in little slump.

The next time he sees Leo the boy busts in hip-to-hip with some girl who’s dressed in low rise jeans, a floral headband, and rose colored glasses. 

Nico doesn’t even get a _hi_. 

This girl, who looks like she knows a few too many conspiracy theories about Y2K and probably drives one of those painted vans like in Scooby-Doo, is smiling and moving her hips and laughing _a little too much_ at Leo’s jokes. Leo watches her with a flirtaceous little smirk that was _totally obnoxious_ and—ope did he just put a hand on her hip and _aren’t they just having a jolly ole’ time?_

Meanwhile, Nico’s slumped over behind the cashier with a serial killer look on his face. Or so he’s been told.

He doesn’t know how it happened this fast. 

One second they’re laughing and looking at a bag of chips— Leo telling a story and the girl giggling so high pitched it _hurt_ Nico’s ears—and the next they are passionately making out against the slurpee machines. _Passionately_. Nico just looks over there and BAM! Her tongue is down Leo’s throat and his hand is on her ass.

Her shoulder crashes into the slurpee machine and a bit of Grape-Crush starts dribbling down the counter, but _no,_ that’s no problem, _they continue making out_

Nico’s stunned. Honest to God _stunned_. His jaw drops even more when Leo grins, throwing a half-second glance towards Nico, and takes her through the backdoor to _his_ smoking spot. 

“Cunt.” Nico spits. 

Ten minutes later he watches Leo wave goodbye to the her at the front through the glass. She laughs and blows a kiss to him, fixing her crooked pink sunglasses.

Once she was a good distance away, Leo turns back around, smiling.

He enters the store, looking all too happy to have ruined their smoke spot with his sins. Nico shoots a penny at him with the toy slingshot he has stashed under the cashier for moments like these.

“Ow—fuck was that for?” Leo yelped, rubbing his arm. 

“For ruining a place of holiness. Our smoke spot? _The one where I saved you from getting your pickle ticked by some old guy?_ And you have the fucking _audacity_ to walk in the store as if you don’t know.”

“Ok, _jeesh_.” Leo said. “I figured if _you_ get to get down and dirty with a random girl at a party, _i_ could at least be open about my relationships.” He sniffed

“And that’s a relationship?”

“Well—maybe. Not yet. She’s a little too hippie for me—she’s into all that saving the earth or up-cycling bullshit. Whatever. I don’t know. What do you want me to say? She grows magic mushrooms in her backyard.”

“You know what? You’re perfect for each other.” Nico deadpans. 

Leo stalks over and lays on top of the counter, almost faux-seductively, as if that makes up for his little stunt. He grabs Nico’s chin and turns him towards himself. “I’m just so bored.”

The costumer from aisle three watches them awkwardly, eyes wide, like they’re seeing something they shouldn’t. 

“Okay.” Nico hopped over the counter. “I’ve got an idea, follow me.” 

“Really? So cool.” Leo jolts up and follows Nico.

Nico opens up the door and Leo walks out, not looking to see if Nico followed.

“—You know, i thought you’d be mad at me, but really you’re just—“

Nico closes and locks the door. Leo whips around and bangs on the glass.

_“Hey!”_ His voice sounds distant.

Nico pretends he cant hear him and flicks him off. The curly haired boy throws his hands up incredulously and angrily storms off. While passing Nico’s car, he took his phone out of his pocket and rammed it into the door, leaving a huge dent. He kicked it again for good measure.

_“FUCK!”_ Nico yelled.

The customer from aisle three jumped snd dropped their slushy all over the floor. 

“Sorry...” They apologize sheepishly.

“It’s fine.” Nico says calmy, before banging his head on the door repeatedly. 

* * *

“Wait—so you’re not coming over this week?” 

“No.” Nico reiterated. “I just....I don’t feel like it, Frank.”

“Okay....that’s....okay. Is this because of some plans i don’t know about?” Frank got excited. “Did you get invited over to another party?”

“No, why would—“

_“You did!”_ Frank exclaimed. “This—this is great. This is _great_. Call you later Nico!”

“Wait—“

The line went dead. Nico dropped his phone on his couch and let a breath of air leave his nose.

Great.

* * *

Nico ducked into the the forbidden closet.

Leo was sitting on the beanbags, playing video games on the newly fixed TV. Apparently he could do that. Nico was wrong.

“Oh, you’re back.” Leo said, button smashing. “Wanna hang out after your work?”

The question took Nico by surprise. They never saw each other outside of Kum & Go, which wasn’t really a problem because Leo was almost always there. But still. Nico was a bit ataken back. 

“Uh, Yeah. Sure.”

“Sweet. When do you get off?”

Nico checked his wrist for his watch, but was then reminded that he lost it last week. 

“Uhhh, can you check the time?”

Leo died in his video game and put the controller down. “Can’t.”

“Can’t?”

“Can’t.” He said again. “Kinda used my phone to dent your car. Remember?” Nico does remember. “Turns out phones can’t survive that. Not even blackberries.”

Leo acted so nonchalantly about, as if Nico didn’t almost blow a fuse when it happened. He laughs now, but there’s still a blackberry-sized dent in his car. 

Nico walked back out of the closet and checked the clock time. Five o’ clock. 

“Actually, i’m off now. Early work day.”

Leo lurched up from the beanbag. “Really? Dope.”

They leave Kum & Go and drive Nico’s dented car to go to the beach, only end up hanging out at the park _near_ the beach. Too sandy.

Leo slithers down the slide and knocks his head into Nico’s.

“I love the beach. Its all warm and sunny and nobody cares if you pee in the water. Not that i go much anymore, but still.”

“It’s alright.” Nico replies.

“God, do you even have anything in there?” Leo knocked on Nico’s skull like a door. “It’s always _‘okay’._ Or _‘sure. fine’—“_

“—that’s not what i sound like—“

“—Where’s your _passion_? Sometimes I feel like i’m talking to a rock. Where’s your fire? _Your flame?”_ Leo exclaimed. He grabbed Nico’s head and bent his head to look at him upside down. 

“I just don’t care that much s’all.” Nico said simply. And that was truth. He doesn’t have the energy to care about much other than his weekly pay check and seeing Leo these days. 

“I know.” Leo said. “God your life would suck without me. Hey, wanna get a tattoo?”

“What?”

“I said do you want to get a tattoo. Turn your listening ears on.”

“I heard what you said, i just....was startled i guess.” Nico said. 

“Yes, yes I know you get startled sometimes honey.” He pats Nico’s arm. “You’re like a little baby sheep. _Baa_. I was just thinking, _you’re_ bored, _i’m_ bored— _let’s get matching tattoos._ We could do a Britney Spears type thing and get matching butterflies above our asses.”

“She has a fairy.” Nico corrected.

“Why do you know that? Sounds like _you’re_ the fairy, Nico.” 

Leo snickered after that. Nico’s mouth stayed flat. What was he supposed to do? Go ‘yay! another homophobic joke’?

Leo sat up and let his eyes trail over Nico’s body. He lowered his voice, and whispered into Nico’s ear, making his spine shiver. 

“Or,” he purred, “You could get a tattoo in only a place I could see.” 

And _god_. He should not be allowed to do that. Leo spoke like a porn actor but minus all the cringy-ness, his voice soft, smoothing out the usual rasp. Is that something friends do? Is this normal? 

Nico blushed. Hard. Leo laughed his ass off.

“ _Oh my God!_ Your face! _Relax_ , Neeks, I was only joking. No need to get your panties in a twist.”

Nico’s heart panged. He should have just laughed at the stupid joke.

“I’m not joking about the tattoo, though.” He said, once the laughter had subsided. “You’ve managed to stand me for a couple of months, i’m sure a life-long reminder of my existence is long overdue.”

“I’m not opposed to it.” Nico said. He meant it too. Partly, he wanted to impress Leo, but, Nico always liked tattoos. Wanted another one, but had no reason to get it. Now, he did.

“....Really?” Leo asked.

“Yeah, sure.” Nico said, then—after remembering Leo’s comment he made earlier about Nico’s only responses being _‘yeah’_ and ‘sure’—added, “I’d like to get a tattoo with you.”

Leo’s eyes lit up. “Y-yeah, okay, cool. Lemme grab my equipment from my place.”

Nico was told to grab food on the strip in Leo’s neighborhood corner while he walked to his house and got the tattoo gun. Leo was very secretive about his house for some reason, but Nico wasn’t going to push. He barely knows anything about the boy still, and is okay with that. 

Nico got a box of pizza, that he’d ordered pepperoni, but received pepperoni-mushroom, and at nearly the same time Leo returned with his tattoo gun.

They sat on the concrete slab next to Nico’s car. 

“Are you sure about this?”

“Yep.” Nico said, biting a slice of pizza.

“And I have your full consent to do this?”

”Uh huh.” Nico mumbled over a bite of pizza.

“Sounds legally binding to me.” Leo’s gun came on with a buzz.

It hurt like a bitch, to put it short.  As soon as the needles touched his skin Nico wanted to cry, but he sucked all that down into his stomach and focused on eating the pizza, biting down on the crust as if it was a bullet. 

He got a phone call from his boss. 

“Shit.” Nico fumbled his slice of pizza and dropped it, reaching into his back pocket with his greasy fingers and pulled out his ringing flip phone. He made the quiet gesture at Leo who nodded.

“Hello?” Nico answered.

“Hey Nico, look I just got a phone call from Charles saying he couldn’t make to work tomorrow, something about a science fair?”

“Sounds sucky.” Nico said, sucking in a breath as Leo went over another patch of skin.

“Yeah. I was just wondering if you could cover?”

“T-tommorow? I’d have to”—Leo drove his tattoo gun over the skin without warning— _“ah.”_

Silence.

“Di Angelo.” Starnes said. His voice was grave.

“Yes?” Nico squeaked.

_ “Are you getting your dick sucked on the other end of this phone you fucking schmuck?” _

“ _No_! No, sir, i’m getting a tattoo—“

“Nope. It’s okay, lie all you want, I don’t want to know. Glad you can cover tommorow. Bye.”

The call ends.

Leo busts out laughing and Nico hits him hard on the shoulder. 

“You did that on purpose!”

Leo laughed harder, eyes glimmering. “It was funny though, wasn’t it?”

Nico shook his head. Then he cracked up. 

“Okay, okay. It was kinda funny.” He admits.

Leo continued working on the tattoo and when he was finished, he wiped away the red ink on Nico’s forearm. Nico looked down to see a small red _Kum & Go_ label etched permanently into his skin. 

“It hurts.” Nico huffed.

”I’ve got a fix for that.”

Leo took his arm into warm hands, brought it up to his face, and kissed it. Softly. He looks up at Nico with a small, nervous smile. 

“Okay, shouldn’t hurt anymore. I-i kissed it better.” 

His arm still hurt, but for a second, Nico’s pain went away. Leo kissed it better.

* * *

Nico had been on his way to work, headphones in and walking up to the gas station, when he was shopped.

Leo stood in front of him, blocking the entrance. Nico pulled out one of his earbuds. 

“Heyyy....?”

Leo held out his arms to prevent Nico from seeing inside. Nico tried to look around him but the boy blocked his path every time.

Nico crossed his arms. “what are you hiding?”

“Nothing.” Leo answered quickly, grinning toothily. “Remember that time you said i could have friends over to the store if i wanted to? I just had to run out by you?”

“I never said that.”

“ _Shhh_ , yes you did. Anyway—“

Nico grumbled and forcefully pushed past Leo, entering the store. At a table sat a blonde haired man wearing glasses and a uni hoodie. He munched on a deli sandwich. 

Leo came to stand next to him and did jazz hands. “Uh, _tada_! So this is Jason.”

Jason looked up from where he had been typing into his laptop, sandwhich crumbs falling all over his laptop. 

“Hi.” He waved. “Me Jason.”

Jason....Jason looked like Clark Kent if Clark Kent was a dying college student who didn’t brush or gel their hair in weeks. 

Nico paused. “You can’t be in here.”

“Sure he can,” Leo said, skipping over to his friend and putting him into a headlock, “He’s already here, isn’t he? So, technically, he _can_ be in here. Just think of him as a _long term customer.”_

Jason shrugged Leo off of him and fixed his bulky black glasses. “Sorry dude. I needed a new place to study, like i was totally _dying_ in my dorm, y’know? And this idiot dragged me here. He’s been talking about you for weeks.”

“What—“

Leo chuckled nervously. “Uh, haha, let’s not tell lies now Jason....Hey, why don’t I leave you _here_ , and go over _there_.”

The boy nearly bolted then, unzipped jacket flapping over his bare chest. Nico was left awkwardly alone with Jason and the few customers in the store.

“So....” The blond scratched his neck. “...I can go, if you want, I know Leo can be a lot sometimes. He was very set on me meeting you. You actually took a lot of pressure off my back, cause Leo is, like, totally non-stop 24/7. And that used to be all on me. But, now it’s you....so, thanks. I assume you’ve heard lots about me...”

“Not at all actually.” He’s getting a little skeptical about this _“Jason”_ man. “How long have you known him?”

“Uh, I think about seven years now?”

What. _“What?”_

Jason shrugged. “Well we met in high school and have been best friends since. He seriously didn’t tell you about me? Totally weird. He talks about you all the time, dude.” Jason pauses mid-chew. “He’s going to kill me for telling you that.”

Nico walked over, his mouth pressed in a line, and set his palms firmly on the table, making Jason jump, startled. 

“Sorry, but I need to know your deal. Age?”

“Twenty-four.”

“House or apartment?”

“Uh, dorm?”

“Ok. Average shower time?”

“ _Wha_ —ten minutes.”

“Cereal preferences?”

“Honey bunches of oats.”

Nico narrowed his eyes. Honey bunches of oats is a terrible cereal, but at least he didn’t say Captain Crunch or Pops.

After a long, threatening and stiff three seconds, Nico sighed. He relaxed his muscles.

This...Jason person, he was okay for now. 

“Okay. You’re allowed to stay. Just don’t cause any trouble, alright? My boss likes me but not that much.”

That seemed fine with Jason and he happily continued eating his sandwich and clacking away on his little laptop. Those clacking noises, Nico foresaw, were going to get very annoying very quickly.

Leo popped his head out of the storage closet, carefully observing Jason and Nico.

“Did you guys make friends yet?”

“Yes,” Nico tossed him the keys to the cashier, “But for this i’m making you work my morning shift.”

“Wha—N-nico i’m not _employed_ here—“

“Well you are for the day.” Nico gives him a cruel smile and Leo gives him his best puppy dog eyes. He never could pull of puppy eyes, he looks too deranged. Jason hid a chuckle. “If you can live here and invite friends here, you can also _work_ here. Now if you excuse me, I’m going to play some GTA.”

And with that, Nico ducked under the black fabric door to the forbidden closet, and he did _not_ play GTA. Instead, he sat there.

And he thought.

About a lot of things.

But most of them....most of them had to do with a boy with explosive brown curlsand coffee-brown eyes and sketchbook-like tattoos....

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 😳 i think theyrw catching feelings. 
> 
> kudos and comments if ya feel 🏋️♀️‼️


	4. Exposed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Because Leo is enough to make atheists pray to God.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a day late. oops. 
> 
> ya girl is no longer failing school 😀 but, my teachers do in fact think im stupid 💃
> 
> note that you might see a chatfic from me sooner or later (i know I KNOW. i promise ill try to make it not crack. it wuld just b a lil thing i update every now and then for fun)
> 
> note that i won exactly one dollar gambling tonight 🤑🤑🤑🤮🤑

“Dude, you can’t keep doing like this. Don’t all nighters like, kill your brain cells?”

Nico sleepily, _slowly_ , put another pringle into his mouth and chewed it. Hm, not really “chewed” per se, it was more like he put the chip in his mouth and then let his jaw fall on it, but whatever. 

Nico used his hand to force his jaw up and down, manually chewing. He was _that tired._ “Can’t kill brain cells if i have none left.”

“You’d be well dead of you had none left.” Leo countered.

Leo layed on the counter, which was acceptable _only_ by the fact that it was 2’oclock and nobody stops in the store at 2’oclock. His shirt rides up and Nico can see his tan exposed stomach, and where normally he would have stared and tried to berate himself for the pervy thoughts that would run through his head, he just closed his eyes. Nico tried to sleep. God, _he needs sleep._

“Besides, one all nighter isn’t even that long.” Leo continued.  Nico didn’t correct him on the fact that actually he was going on _two_ nights, because he wasn’t sure if he could actually move his mouth at this point. “My record is six days without sleep. No naps. The only reason I didn’t make the full week is because someone got concerned and snuck a shit ton of melatonin into my drinks.”

Charle’s lip curled and he looked at Leo with the same likeness you would look at someone who strangled little animals in the forest for fun. 

“Stop sounding so proud of it. God, I hope you know thats literally the worst thing to be proud of it.”

“Oh i wear it like a badge—“

Everyone stopped talking, because at that moment, Nico’s boss walked in and took a double take at Leo.

Mr. Starnes’ brows lifted. “Who’s this asshole? What’s he doing here?”

Leo quickly jumped off the counter and dusted himself off. Charles looked the other way. Nico sucked air between his teeth.

“I’m Leo, nice to meetcha.” He grinned.

Nico began his mental prayers. Nico doesn’t believe in God. That’s what Leo _does_ to people. 

Starnes was not amused. “I don’t know you. Why are you in _my_ store and talking to _my_ best employee?” He snapped his fingers at Nico, who woke up. “Get him outta here.”

“That’s my friend.” Nico yawned. 

Starnes but his hands on his hips and stood imposingly in front of Leo. “Okay, _Leo_ , how old are you?”

“Twelve.” He answered without a beat.

Charles rolled his eyes. “He’s bullshitting you.”

Starnes payed no mind. He probably knew the boy was bullshitting him anyway. “What’s your job? Where you work at?”

“I’m a stripper.” Leo replied confidently.

Nico woke up. For real this time. Charles choked on his Monster. 

Starnes rasised a brow and threw Nico a concerned look with a dash of _whatthefuckiswrongwithyou_. “A _male stripper?”_

“Yessir.” Leo replied, shoving his hands into his pockets. 

Mr Starnes did not look convinced. 

Leo began raising his t-shirt. “I mean if you don’t _believe_ me i can—“

“No! No, that’s fine, Leo. There will be no stripping in my store today thank you.” The man shivered. “Not after last time....”

“ _Last time”_ included a half-naked Percy and a bottle of Remmy Martin’s, if Nico recalls correctly. 

The man turned his body towards Nico, as if looking at Leo made him physically ill. “Nico are you sure? I knew you’d been having friends over but I didn’t know it was one so....”

“Derranged?” Charles offered.

Mr. Starnes snapped his fingers again. “That’s the word I was looking for.”

He spins back around to Leo. Just looking at him seemed to pain the man.“Alright, you—you....you plan on staying here?”

Leo nodded his head. “Yessir.”

“Okay, great. Get ready to do some work.”

Leo’s eyes glimmered. “Did you just hire me?”

“No you fucking dope.” Mr Starnes pointed a finger to the door. “Mop the floors or get the hell outta here!”

* * *

It was a long day before Nico got home.

He dragged his feet the whole way, _literally_. His shoes were scuffed to high hell anyways. Nico’s exhausted. His eyes hurt, his legs feel like lead, and his mouth is annoyingly dry. 

Nico’s breath looked like smoke in the cold air. Jiggling the keys in and out of his door lock, the door creaked open with a sigh. 

Inside was quiet except for the buzz of the heater. Peaceful. Nico threw down his coat on the counter, and started taking off his shoes and—

“Hey Nico. Took you long enough.”

The Nico in question leapt nearly six feet in the air, and looked like he wanted to grab a knife.

Percy chuckles from where he stood in the living room. He wore thick grey sweats and a blue sweater. 

“Percy!” Nico put a hand on his chest and gulped air. “God, you scared the shit outta me.”

Percy’s eyes crinkled with a smile. “I’m sorry. I sorta forgot you weren’t expecting me....”

Nico waits no time. “Why are you here?”

Percy faltered. He poked his fingers together. “I thought you told me the door was always open...? _‘If you don’t have a key just break the window’,_ I think were your exact words...”

Nico blinked. “I told you that two years ago.”

The boy across from Nico didn’t look like he had a point to argue that with.

“Okay,” Percy starts, giving up his easy going manner. He scratches his head sheepishly. “The thing is, we’re worried about you. You....You never really come around often in the first place, which is fine because it’s _you_ , but....Frank said you don’t even go to his place anymore. And everyone knows how you are.”

After Percy finished, Nico set down his things, taking his time putting everything away. He knew Percy was watching him, so he went real slow. Making him wait. Making him suffer.

When Nico was done, he turned to Percy and crossed his arms. “I’m fine.”

“But—“

“Percy, you know I love you guys, but honestly, none of you try to see or talk to me except Frank. Which isn’t completely your fault, but still. You say you haven’t seen me in so long that you’re worried about me? I could say the same about you.”

Percy gulped. Nico continued.

“Second, I’m rethinking some things right now. Which means I’m busy. And i’m fine.” Nico flapped his clothes and pinched his skin for show. “See? Not starving, meat on my bones, clothes are clean.”

The man scrunched his brows. Man—it felt weird calling Percy a man, but it was true. He didn’t look much different than when he was a teenager, just more mature. Twenty-four looked good on him.

Nico began untying his shoelaces. “It’s not like you being here would help me if i was struggling anyway—which im _not_ —cause what would that do? I would, what, have someone to eat ice cream and watch movies with? Grow up. You made your choice a long time ago, Perce.”

Percy was silent for a long moment. He shuffled his feet.

“I restocked your fridge.” He said at last.

“Okay.” Was all he said back.

A good half hour passed, in which neither Nico nor Percy spoke to each other. An once Percy got the idea that Nico was done done talking, he folded up his coat, put his keys in his pocket, and stood at the door to leave. 

“Nico?”

“Yeah?”

Percy smiled, crooked and goofy just like usual. It reminded Nico of the past.

“I’ll see you soon.”

* * *

“Do you _need_ to be here all the time?” Charles pinched the bridge of his nose. “You scare away all the customers.”

Leo turned his nose up. “Yeah but I don’t see _why_. I am very approachable.”

Charles gestured wildly to Leo with his arms. Mainly to his bajillion tattoos, up-to-no-good smile, baggy hoodie, and weed socks. 

“You are quite literally the sketchiest person I have ever seen. You look like a _weirdo.”_

He pouted, bottom sticking out in a way that made Nico lift his head up. “I wouldn’t hurt anybody though.”

“Well of course _I_ know that. Now. But they don’t.”

Leo turns his eyes and catches Nico’s attention, who previously, was peacefully reading a magazine, mp3 plugged in. 

“Nico do you think I look sketchy?” He pouted

“Of course not.” Nico answered, not looking up from the magazine. Vans was having a fucking fantastic sale, just recession things he guesses.

“ _See?”_

Charles gave him a _the_ face, the one that means _“you know you’re wrong so just admit i’m right and quit embarrassing yourself, Leo”._

Leo ignored it.

“You know,” Leo tried to throw an M&M into the air and catch it in his mouth. He failed. “You remind me of someone Charles, you silly little bastard. I just don’t know who.”

Leo paused. “The tooth fairy? Maybe?”

Charles would have scowled, but after three months of Leo’s usual jeers he was desensitized. Dead. Non-expressive. Nico would know, he’s known him longer. 

Charles looked at the clock while Leo rambled.

“Maybe it’s the dude from Harry Potter? The little elf one? Nah....you’re too stocky for that. Beefy. Beef....hm. Pit bull?”

Charles slams his fist on the counter. “Jesus fuck I can’t _take_ this anymore. I can’t take it. I swear to God if you say one more thing I will _grind_ myself up and put my gritty remains into the coffee maker and make it our new house blend.”

Leo shut his lips, paused, and opened again. “I would pay to see that. Also, I don’t you think you would make a good house blend. Like, intestines in my coffee? I don’t like coffee that much in the first place but I have a _hunch_ that won’t taste very good. No offense of course, Charles. If you plan on doing that I at least suggest putting yourself in the Columbian blend because we _both_ know nobody buys that shit—“

“Nico! Get him and lock him in the closet or whatever you guys do! I can’t do this anymore!”

Nico looked up from his magazine, unplugging one earbud. “M’kay. Leo c’mere.”

Leo was happy to oblige, but Charles perked up at something behind him and Leo got curious. He spun around.

Leo turned around, a grin on his face, until he saw who it was. 

A short, stocky man with a hooked nose and a goatee entered the shop, waving a hand at Charles and bee-lining to the pizza section.

Leo’s eyes went wide and his hands shook. 

Fuck. That—Coach Hedge from his high school gym and reform class did _not_ just walk in, did he? Was this really happening? _Is this an acid flashback?_

“Hey Dad!” Charles called out. 

_Ohhhhhhhhhhhhshit_. OHSHIT.

Holy motherfucking human flesh in a coffeepot. Everything clicked and and suddenly Leo knows why Charles looked familiar. He was _his_ son.

His _son._

Oh. Oh God. The vomit, the mental vomit. Leo has to hold it back.

Leo ducks under the counter before Hedge could spot him, cursing under his breath. Charlie looked to him with a questioning look and Leo put a finger to his lips.

He heard Coach’s voice over the counter.

“Hey there cupcake.” Leo shudders at the nickname, remembering all the extra laps that man—that _monster_ —had made him run.“I was heading home and thought I’d drop by, see how yall’re doing.”

Charle’s voice was uncertain, gaze flickering to Leo every so often. 

“It’s great, Dad. I’m just—uh, getting that money, you know?”

“Ah! So entrepreneurial. That’s your mother’s touch, by the way.” Hedge let out a big old laugh. It was so weird to hear him talking in a way that wasn’t a command and yelling and red faced. 

“....You have any coworkers? Jeez, they got you that understaffed in this joint? Where’s the manager?”

“Uh no, I have a coworker. Nico!”

Leo watches Nico emerge from the cave, stopping at the doorframe, eyebrows shooting up at the scene in front of him. 

He sucks in air between his teeth, looking at Leo, and opens his mouth to speak. Leo wildly waved his arms ‘no’, and shakes his head. 

“Is there something wrong?” Hedge asked.

Leo looks up just as Hedge peers down the counter.

They lock eyes for a moment.

“Is that— _is that you Valdez—“_

Leo popped up from the counter. “Iamsosorry.”

“Jesus Valdez—you look _terrible_. Did my coaching teach you nothing? How thick is your fucking skull, boy? Look at that—is that a _neck tattoo?!_ Hand tat—Oh my sweet _lord—“_

“Hedge! Ahaha, so good to see you...uhm, i was just stopping by here but i’ll leave now—“

Charles interrupted him. “How do you two know eachother?”

Hedge places a paw on Leo’s shoulder. Leo was visibly horrified, and that was slightly amusing to Nico. He coughed in his hand to cover up a chuckle.

“Valdez, here, was my student about what? Four years ago? Jesus you’ve grown nothing in those years. He was the worst student in the entire school. He had to retake my class three times—three times! it’s fucking _gym!”_

“Don’t undermine me, i had asthma—“

“No. No you didn’t.” He looked Leo up and down. “Jesus, kid, you don’t look good. Why all the tattoos? Are you feeding yourself? Gotta place to sleep?”

Leo ripped himself from the man’s grip, glaring. “Yes, i’m very healthy thank you.”

Nico shook his head at Hedge behind Leo’s back.

“And why do you care all the sudden? We're enemies. _Bound enemies.”_

“Enemies don’t hide from each other behind counters. They face eachother like real men.”

“Whatever!” Leo threw his hands up and pointed to Charles. “I’m hating you for this.”

Hedge collected his things, letting a small smile ghost his face. While Leo and his son were arguing he wrote something on a sticky note, folded it, and passed it to Nico discreetly.

”It was nice seeing you, Valdez. Seriously. Take care of yourself.” The man strut out the joint with a hand wave, the door falling behind him silently.

Nico unfolded the note in his hands. 

_Look after him, okay? He’s smart. Keep him safe, no trouble, or i’ll beat both your asses. Got it?_

* * *

“So why _do_ you work here?”

Leo threw a frito at him, landing on Nico’s shirt. He picked it up and popped it into his mouth, crunching it. 

“What do you mean?” Nico asked.

Leo let his head fall against the wall of the closet. In the background, The Office was quietly playing. The fifth season had just came out, and he and Leo were binging it. 

“Like, i've met a lot of dumb people in my life, myself included, but you're _smart_ Nico. So why waste it here?”

The dark haired boy twinged. “It’s, um, kind of embarrassing.” Nico didn’t like telling this story, it was just another illustration of what unconquered rancor does to someone’s life, mainly landing them a permanent job at Kum & Go. “My dad was my biggest stressor growing up. He owned this big law firm and mortuary, the place where they dress up dead bodies and shit? Not the best place to grow up by the way—lots of lasting effects. Anyways, he always had such high expectations, y'know? Wanted me to go to medical school and stuff. I could never live up to them. I got into too many fights, had to drop a lot of classes, cut a bit of school....”

“What about your mom?” Leo looked like he wanted to look nonchalant with the question, but you could see this flicker in his eye that told Nico he needed to know the answer. Nico wasn’t sure what the right answer was. 

Nico was resentful towards his mother. She was a no-show—a mother who left her children. He hated her for it for a long time, but now he’s too jaded to summon that kind of feeling....

“She left. I mean, I was four, so I don’t remember her much, but yeah. She left us.” Even if most the hate was gone, noticeable bitterness still coated Nico’s tongue when he spoke of his mother. 

Leo was a blank canvas, no flicker of emotion showing, but he did look oddly pleased. About which part Nico didn’t know. The fact that he didn’t know his mother or that he was finally opening up?

“But, yeah, anyways... i hated my dad so much in high school and one day I got so mad I planned to spite him. I was thinking, respected owner of major corporation? I know where to aim. I aimed for the balls—by taking a job at a gas station.” Nico smiled devilishly. “Henry Di Angelo, CEO and successful buisness man, father of Nico di Angelo—gas station employee who works for minimum wage. It was _perfect_. At the time. 

Leo had eased down, and he now munched carelessly on his fritos again. 

“Wow....that was....really dumb of you.” Leo cracked up.

Nico threw a chip at him, covering up a smile.

He turned the TV down. “What about you?” 

“What _about_ me?” He smiled, amused. Leo licked frito dust off his index finger. 

Nico rolled his eyes. “Like, what’d you do in high-school? How’d _you_ grow up?”

Leo paused. He suddenly grew a bit cold. “....i grew up here.”

“Okay...What was your home like?”

“I dunno.” The boy had turned his head away from Nico, picking at the sleeves of his sweatshirt. “I had a dad and a mom and a little home in a gated neighborhood with puppies and unicorns.”

Nico stared at Leo, who couldn’t meet his gaze. “That’s not what it was actually like, was it.”

That seemed to set off a fuse in Leo. 

“Look we don’t have to share everything with eachother! Like, what the _fuck_? We don’t—W-we don’t have to do that. _You know me_ , why isn’t that enough?”

“I-i just figured since i told you—“

He was given a condescending smile. “Ok, well yeah, you don’t need to know, Nico.”

“Okay. Jeesh.” Nico flung a frito angrily at the boy’s head. “You’re an ass sometimes, you know that?”

Slumping into his chair, Leo looked weirdly apologetic all the sudden. “I know. I’m sorry.”

They went back to watching The Office in relative silence. Nico couldn’t pay attention to the show, he was busy wondering....

Wondering what happened to make Leo like that. 

* * *

It was closing shift. Nico mopped the floors while Leo sat on the counter and talked while he ate. 

There was a table. And chairs. But no, Leo sat on the counter.

Nico half-listened to Leo’s rants and half-listened to the music from his ipod. Leo was probably supposed to be mopping, as ordered by Starnes, but....Nico didn’t mind doing it. As long as Leo was here to talk to him and breathe the same air.

“I ordered two cheese rollups— _two cheese rollups._ Do you Nico know the most important aspect of a Taco Bell cheese roll-up? _The crititcal ingredient?_ Chipotle mayo. You know what _isn’t_ on my FUCKING cheese roll-up? CHIPOTLE MAYO. What is the point.”

Nico hummed. He heard maybe half of that. “Maybe you should’ve asked for it if it’s so critical.”

“I—wha—i— _asked_ for it?! It’s supposed to be there in the first place! I payed a whole _two_ dollars for these, that’s approximately half my monthly income! Us normal people simply cannot survive in this capitalist world. This—this capitalist world that doesn’t understand the importance of chipotle mayo.”

Nico laughed to himself. Mostly because he knew Leo didn’t know what capitalism was really.

“I’m serious.” Leo replied. “If they forget it next time I swear to fuck, i’m throwing myself of the roof. It will be the last straw. And you know who my suicide note is going to be made out to? _Taco bell.”_

Nico snorted. “I mean sure, that _would_ be good.... But I would go the more homicidal route I think.”

“ _Yeah_ , but I wanna die _and_ spite taco bell, not kill taco bell. There’s a difference. My way is killing two birds with one noose.”

Leo and himself make suicide jokes quite often, but this one felt a little....off. Nico didn’t like the thought of coming to work one day and finding the boy hanging from a rope on the ceiling.

Hanging....and his neck would be purple with bruises, slightly snapped in a way that was not natural but not broken at the same time, because leo doesn’t weigh enough to break his skinny little neck so he would probably just hang there for a long time struggling for air and in pain until he suffocated and ohgodohgodohgod—

He paused in his mopping and took out an earbud with a shaking hand. “....Hey, you would tell me if you were, like, seriously going to kill yourself right? Cause’ it would be, like, way un-cool. If you did.”

“First of all, i’m offended that my suicide only requires one earbud of attention. Second, _of course I would tell you._ If I’m going to haunt this shithole i want you to know its me. I’ll be the best ghost ever. I could probably sign ‘ _dick_ ’ in morse code with the lights, not that you would catch it.”

Nico replied and they kept talking while he cleaned, all light hearted. 

Nico couldn’t help but think, though....about Leo’s little joke. Couldn’t stop thinking about where they differ. Couldn’t stop thinking about that if Nico were to kill himself—not that he had any plans to, just if he _were_ —he wouldn’t tell Leo. He wouldn’t tell anybody. 

And that could be the only secret he ever took to his grave. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeaahHHHG chapter fo ⛹️♂️
> 
> yes nico is secretly severely depressed. yes leo is not okay. there is a reason this chapter is called exposed.
> 
> kudos and comments appreciatted!! (as always lovelies)


	5. Jolly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There’s nothing like the holidays.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i posted on time hoes 😸🖕 this ones for chrimas 😏🎄

Christmas was tomorrow. 

Nico’s boss had refused let him work on Christmas, but he let him come in on the eve, which is where he was now. 

It was oddly peaceful. The day was a  nice change of pace than what Nico was used to lately. Leo mostly sat near him and quietly sketched out tattoo designs, and Nico idly rung up the various snack items and lottery tickets of his customers, (those became highly requested near the holidays). The band of construction workers came in today, and they collectively gifted Nico a hundred bucks. _“Merry Christmas,”_ they’d said. It was good to see all those free drinks pay off, even though Nico never expected them too. He appreciated it.

He bought Leo something too. They never talked about the holiday, so Nico assumed they would celebrate separately, even if something about that made him feel all gutted inside. Oh well, he still has time today to give him the gift.

When work was over Leo pulled him into their little section of the storage closet, behind the black tarp and into the....fine, he’ll say it. Into the Kum Kave. _Merry Christmas._

There had been some recent renovations to the room over the months. First off, it was no longer dusty, due to frequent use and Nico’s sully cleaning; Second, there lay a carpet at under their feet now to keep the ground all plush. Apparently someone Leo knew was planning to get rid of it, so he upcycled; Third, many more items had been brought and stored there, including, but not limited to: a cellphone charger, a pair of wired earbuds, a rubiks cube, a preowned game of _Mouse Trap_ , a pillow, two blankets, and a lighting strip that was now taped to the top wall. 

Leo held something behind his back. 

“Nico di Angelo, my Christmas present to you on this fine evening, is....”—Leo revealed two rented DVD’s from his arms. They were both from Hallmark; one was titled _Crown for Christmas_ , and the other _Meet the Santas_ —“ _This!”_

The black haired boy took the films into his hands carefully. “...You got these for me?”

“Well, for us.” Leo shoved the curls out of his face, though it was no help. They fell defiantly right back into place. “And I only rented them, because buying DVDs cost so much—did you know its ten dollars to rent a movie at this time of year? Ridiculous. But, I figured we could watch them together. Tonight.”

“Thats.....thoughtful.” It felt weird using that word on Leo. “Thank you.” Double weird.

The boy gave him the obligatory “your welcome” and settled into a beanbag chair. It was always fairly warm inside Kum & Go, but that rarely stopped Leo from his near-obsessive hoodie use, but right now he wore short sleeves that exposed all the tattoos and little scars on his arms. 

Nico settled right beside him, pretending that the room was tighter so he could scooch closer. 

Nico put on cologne this morning, but didnt brush his teeth, and was now _much_ too aware of his breath all the sudden. He was also painfully aware that Leo smelled sweet, a weird kind of sweet, made by mixing perfume (perfume that Nico hoped to a God he didn’t even _believe_ in didn’t belong to that one hippie girl he had brought in, even though he hadn’t seen her since) and cologne and flowery laundry detergent. A pleasant smell that lingered everywhere he went. 

Oh. _The present,_ Nico remembered. 

Rummaging in his pocket, Nico pulls out his gift. It’s wrapped in a plastic bag, but he at least had the thought to tie the handles into a nice little bow at the top. 

“My turn.” Nico said, presenting the gift to Leo.

A smile crept onto the the curly-haired boy’s face. He looked at the bag with amusement and took it into his hands, tapping the little flattened plastic bow. 

“You are so ghetto.” He laughed. 

Nico watches as he pulled apart the plastic, revealing a weighted sketchbook and a packaged fountain pen.

“I-i thought you’d be able to use it. Beats drawing off printer paper, right?” Nervousness imprinted on his voice.

Leo looked at the gift blankly, holding it gently in his hands. His mouth was parted, as if there were words there, but they were too stubborn to come out.

Did he not like it? Nico was sure he would. He was _sure_. Maybe it was too personal....Nico wished he just rented stupid movies like Leo did instead.

“I-i have the receipt, if you want to take it back....”

Leo shook his head. He looked at Nico and blinked. “No, it’s fine Nico. I like it. I’ve never....never had a real ink pen before....”

“I feel like any normal person would hug you right now but we don’t really _do_ that, so....” Leo snickered and patted him on the arm gently. Nico returned the gesture, and they turned on the movie. 

Oddly, the movie reminded him of going to the dentist, because Nico’s dentist in particular would play the hallmark channel while he was getting his teeth cleaned or a cavity filled. Nico was horrified of the dentist, so it was a little odd watching it because as a reflex his teeth started to hurt.

Leo looked happy though. (Actually happy, for once)

He was watching intently, eyes fixed on the screen. Nico noticed he got a new tattoo behind his ear, a little smiley face with the eyes x-ed out. How cheerful.

He still looked so serene. The boy’s eyelashes looked like they could reach the sky if they wanted to, and his jaw softened with the comfortable position he was in. 

Nico didn’t want to get caught staring. He turned his attention back to the movie and sighed. 

While he wasn’t looking, Leo moved from his curled up position to lean on Nico’s shoulder, whispering and snickering, “ _no homo.”_

Nico stiffened, and then immediately tried not to stiffen. He was caught between flinging the boy off him like a bug or pulling him closer. He thinks Leo noticed, causing the ghost of a smile to appear on his lips. 

Nico, conscious now of every movement he made, felt a desperate need to say something. Okay, _pretty boy on your shoulder._ Act cool, Nico. _Act cool._

“This is so cheesy.” Nico said.

Leo shifted his head on his shoulder, sending shivers down Nico’s spine as his hair tickles the nape of his neck.

“I love hallmark movies.” He whispered, eyes growing heavy. “It’s such a happy place. Everybody gets a happy ending.”

Leo fell asleep not long after that, still on Nico’s arm of which he didn’t _dare_ move in fear of disturbing him. 

_He’s going to miss the end of the movie,_ Nico thought.

Then, he realized Leo’s words, and understood. The boy already knew the outcome, and he slept reassured.

Everybody gets a happy ending. 

* * *

Nico loved their little routine. Him and Leo’s. _Really really_ loved it. Which was weird because he hadn’t loved anything in a really long time, besides, like, his neighbor’s cat Sprinkles. Which shouldn’t even count because the cat isn’t _his._

Kum & Go was empty. Charles was gone. 

Nico called to the back. “Leo! You can come out now! I have a feast for us.”

Nico had arranged a fine assortment of twinkies, takis, a couple oranges so Nico could _pretend_ he was healthy, and other gas station foods he knew Leo liked. A cold Arizona iced tea waited on the counter for the boy.

When he did not get an answer, Nico looked for him.

“Leo?” 

Leo was in the forbidden closet, pushed into the corner with the bean bags surrounding him like a fortress. His head was in his hands. 

Nico’s mood falls. His stomach drops, and keeps dropping. 

“....Oh.”

Hesitantly, Nico sits on the floor in front of Leo, his back to the TV. He tried to move a beanbag aside to get closer, but Leo shoved it back into place so that Nico could not get to him.

“Oh...ok. Listen, I don’t know how to comfort people, so i’ll just talk. I think. You always do all the talking, actually....” Nico doesn’t know what to say. Its quiet for a moment. “This is harder than I thought. All those words. How do you do it all the time?”

Quiet sobbing was the reply Nico got. Leo’s shoulders were shaking and he refused to let Nico see his face. He threaded his shaking hands into his hair.

All Nico could do was just sit there. Wide eyes, expressionless. 

He remained there, on the outside of the border of beanbags, while he cried.

* * *

Nico takes a hot bath when he gets home from work that day. He nearly drowns himself in the water.

* * *

Christmas at the Jackson’s was anything but traditional.

The feast included three boxes of pizza, a bottle of rumchata, a bag of cheeto puffs, a chocolate fountain, and some _very_ heavily infused peppermint chocolate bark and gingerbread edibles.

It was nowhere near a fancy turkey dinner, but it felt just right to Nico. 

Percy’s apartment was well-sized, and designed professionally by his girlfriend. They only invited the inner circle—Frank, Frank’s girlfriend, Jason, Grover, a few more.

Nico was one edible in. It wasn’t hitting very hard, but almost everyone at the party was at least slightly high. 

Percy danced his way over to where Nico was sitting on the floor by the coffee table, bottle of rumchata hoisted on his hip.

“Nico!” He sung, grinning and setting down the bottle.

This face is never good. Anyone who knew Percy knew that. “Oh god. What is it?”

Percy grinned even more. Grover watched with mild amusement. 

“So, me and the team decided on a little....gamble.”

Every bad decision Nico has ever made in his life started with those words.

Solemnly, he reached for another slice of pizza. Stuffed crust.

“Spit it out, Jackson.”

“You still gay?”

“Still gay.” Nico confirmed.

“Okay. We noticed that you haven’t had a relationship in a while, and so me and the boys have started a bet. Me and Grover bet you can get a boyfriend before January twentieth—Frank and Annabeth bet you can’t. Each of us put two hundred in as our bet, so eight hundred is riding on this—and whoever's right is payed. Side bets are allowed.”

Eating the pizza crust first, Nico raised his brows, unimpressed. “What do i get out of this?”

“One hundred dollars at least. You’ll get payed either way, but if you make me win, i’ll give you Sapphire.”

Nico’s jaw dropped, and inside you could see a little chewed up piece of cheese and crust. A few excited gasps were elicited around the room. Suddenly, Nico felt a lot higher than before.

Second only to his up-to-no-good smile, anybody who knew Percy knew about Sapphire, his dark blue 2005 corvette, equipped with smooth leather seats and ass warmers. _Ass warmers._ Does Nico have to repeat that again? It has _Ass. Warmers._

Now that was a horrible bet for Percy, seeing as all Nico has to do is get a boyfriend and his car is now Nico’s, but for Nico it’s a win-win.

Maybe Percy had one too many edibles, maybe he was just plain stupid—either way, _Nico wants that fucking car._

”So?” Percy prompted. “We have a deal?”

Nico stuck out a hand and Percy matched it, the living room erupting into cheers. 

“Deal.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lol will this end badly who knows 🥲


	6. Worried

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nico and Leo go ice-skating together—Jason is there too, to Nico’s displeasure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi!!! sorry for not updating for a bit, its kind of a thing for my uploading schedule to be consistent for like a month and then i drop off the face of the earth ::):):):):):)/
> 
> but yeah i was swamped with all types of shit. and unmotivated. life just kinda sucks rn like im lazy and hungry and broke all the time wtf i wish i could go back in time and be twelve again when all i cared about was what we were having for dinner that night and watching ihascupquake minecraft videos 😔
> 
> like one minute ur fine and the next youre crying to the song black beatles because you wish it was 2016 again 
> 
> buts its passed, so im back
> 
> good thing is that the next chapter is already written and edited so if i dont upload it in a week u have the legal right to kill me 🙌‼️

Nico was an idiot for agreeing to that bet. And it wasn’t because he had much to lose in the bet itself—it was supposedly a win-win situation—but because he actually feels tempted to _do_ something with his emotions now. Which has proved itself to be a very _, very bad thing._

Now he has to _admit_ the feelings and _say_ them out loud and deal with the _consequences_ —Nico hates that he wants Percy’s car so bad that he actually might do it.

It doesn’t have to be Leo. Nico knows that. He could just swing by some gay bar, bring a man home for the night, take Percy’s car, and ditch him in the morning. 

But the thought of it made Nico’s nerves fold itself into paper cranes. It doesn’t have to be Leo, but maybe he _wants_ it to. They have matching tattoos for Christ’s sake—He wants it to be Leo. 

It needs to be Leo.

* * *

January started, and Nico forced down his feelings for Leo like a bitter tasting pill.

Things changed a bit at the start of the new year. 

It got colder. Charles got a small pay raise. Nico got the dent in his car fixed. He stopped going over to Frank’s for video games on Saturdays. Jason started to become a regular at Kum & Go.

The last change was evident at the moment. A fresher, more cleanly-shaven Jason was reading a book at one of the gas station’s shiny red tables, no longer a walking corpse since he got through all of his college exams.

Nico likes Jason. He really does. But he’s tall and blond and pretty, and him and Leo are _best friends_. And that makes Nico fresh—a newborn baby in the knowledge of Leo-dom. Nico doesn’t know why that feels so threatening.

“Nico!” Leo shouts from somewhere behind him, making Nico jump. “I made you a bracelet.”

The boy beamed. He held up his bracelet, which was made from plastic string and colorful beads, and thrust it into Nico’s hands.

“What does it—“ Nico’s stops his question early when he reads the bracelet. The beads read ‘BALLSAK’. 

Leo busts into laughter like he’d been holding it in a long time, running away from Nico and coming back to watch him unceremoniously shrug the bracelet on, despite it’s explicit message.

“Thank you, so much.” Nico deadpanned. 

“Don’t be such a sourpuss. Look, it’s all cool. I made myself one too. Were matching.” Leo showed off his wrist, where saddled into the mess of bands and rings was the bead bracelet, reading ‘DICK.’

It was a little endearing. Just a little.

Well, it _was_. It wasn’t so endearing anymore when Jason showed Nico his bracelet that read ‘CACA’. Now Nico wasn’t special anymore.

He wanted to rip that bracelet off Jason’s wrist and chuck it into a blender. And maybe light in on fire.

Golden boy smiled at Nico, shoving fingers through his honey-colored hair with ease. 

“They’re totally horrible, right?”

“Yeah. _Totally_.” Nico mumbled. 

They stood in that special breed of awkward silence that only occurs when you’re with a friend of a friend. In the meantime, Leo is chasing Charles around the store trying to give him a bead bracelet as well. 

Nico gives the man dead eyes and, to his delight, he thinks he scares Jason a little.

The blond laughs nervously. “Hey, uh.... Me and Leo were planning to go ice skating later—really cool place, loads of hot chocolate—and uh, it’d be totally chill if you wanted to came with. You get off around six on Thursday, right?”

“How did you remember that?”

Jason laughs again. He has an annoyingly perfect laugh—nothing like Leo’s or himself’s. Jason’s laugh sounded pre-recorded, like a Disney laugh track.

“It’s my college brain, i swear.” He says. “Any time exams or finals roll around my brain goes into, like, panic mode. It shoves everything into long term memory. Like, I was at Walgreens a week and a half ago, and I still remember the cashier’s name that rang me up. Matilda.”

“Super weird.” Nico replied lamely. Internally, he was cussing the boy out for being pretty _and_ having photogenic memory. Whoever said God made everyone equal was wrong. 

“But yeah, I get off at six. Ice skating sounds fun.”

Jason smiled. Nico already regrets agreeing to it. “Great. Cool.”

“Cool.” He agrees.

* * *

Leo follows Nico out on his smoke break. 

Its almost six o’clock and Leo keeps trying to secretly not-so-secretly hurry him up so they can go ice skating faster. 

Nico doesn’t feel the need to rush. He reaches into the rusted outlet—which was hanging onto the wall by a thread now—and fishes out his Marlboro’s. He offers to Leo, but he refuses. The boy rarely takes one. 

Nico smokes and Leo talks. It’s an unbalanced situation, but never has it felt awkward. Just relaxed. 

“Anyway, I was scrolling on twitter yesterday and _BAM_! titties. But not just anybody’s titties, it was _Rihanna’s_ titties. Like, who the fuck leaks _Rihanna’s nudes?!”_

“Rihanna?” Nico blew a puff of smoke. He hadn’t downloaded twitter yet. It looked weird. The only social media account he had was Facebook.

“Yes! And Chris Brown was there with a pair of her underwear on his head, just chillin. It was so fucking crazy. I swear the app went ape shit. The only thing trending that day was her boobs.” Leo popped a piece of chewing gum and started chomping down on it. “I haven’t seen this much dissension over something since Relapse dropped.”

Nico reasoned with his cigarette. “Maybe we're entering another Great Awakening, or some shit.”

Leo leaned forward and his face bugged, like he was about to say _“Exactly!”_ but was cut off by the sound of the door opening. 

Nico shoves the cigarette into his mouth and clamps his lips shut. 

Mr. Starnes leaned out of the door, eyeing him suspiciously. “What are you two doing out here? I know your shift ends in ten minutes, but there’s a still a store to run y’know!”

Nico can only nod his head. 

Leo chuckles nervously. “Of course Sir, we’ll take just a moment.”

Mr. Starnes looks them both up and down like he’s weighing how much he believes them and deciding if he cares or not. 

Every second kills Nico. After a moment of silence, he slowly closes the door.

Nico immediately spits up the cigarette, his mouth burning, while Leo laughs at him in the background. 

_ “Fuck!” _

* * *

The ice skating rink still had Christmas decorations up in January. The obnoxiously bright string lights laughed down at Nico while his headache pounded steadily.

Leo and Jason walked a bit ahead of Nico, pointing and giggling things. Every now and then Leo would put his hand on Jason’s arm and Nico would have to look away. It wasn’t a date, yet he felt like a third wheeler. 

It’s not long before a cup of hot cocoa is thrusted into his hands, a little candy cane sticking out to use as a stirring stick. Nico warily eyes it, plucks it out, and drops it into the trash. He hates peppermint.

The cocoa still tastes like peppermint though, and it burns the sore in his mouth creating by swallowing his cigarette earlier. 

“What size shoes do you wear?” 

Nico looks up to see Leo standing in front of where he is seated. He wears a red puffer jacket and black jeans, his supposed _“warm clothes.”_

“Nine.” Nico answers.

Leo soon came back with a pair of skates, dropping them off at Nico’s feet before plopping down on a bench across from him to tie his own skates on. A woman on the same bench as Leo scoots a little away from him and closes up her purse.

The skates are blue and clunky and much too hard to tie, but Nico makes do anyways, pulling on the laces until his fingers hurt. Them seem tight enough. 

He hears a whine and Nico lifts his head up. Across from him, Leo had gotten Jason to tie his skates for him and the blond crouched down in front of him to help.

He doesn’t know why, but that picture filled him with so much.....so much.... _something_.

It was anger, and it was hurt, and it was resentment—and Nico doesn’t know why because it’s just _skates_. It’s just skates? Why would he get so emotional over Leo asking Jason for help tying his skates. It doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t. It doesn’t make _sense_.

Nico closes his eyes and buries the feeling deep down. ‘Cause that seems healthy. 

There weren’t very many people on the ice, and thank shit for that. Nico was a menace in the rink. He fumbled with every step he took. Little kids went out of their way to avoid him.

Nico stuck to the wall and held on for dear life.

Meanwhile, Jason Grace was gliding on the ice like he’d been doing this since birth. Skating forwards, backwards, in little circles and doing little graceful hops. Nico should call the fucking Nutcracker and tell them he’s found their escapee sugar plum faerie. 

And the worst part is, Leo’s just about as shit as Nico at ice skating, but he’s actually making _rounds_ around the rink because he’s holding onto Jason’s fucking _arm._

His stupidfucking muscular-ass bodybuilder arms. He _clings_ to them, like a child, laughing and stumbling on his skates.

If Nico could catch up to them, he would wrap his hands around Jason’s stupid little throat and squeeze. 

How is Nico supposed to ask Leo out like this? He might as well kiss that corvette goodbye.

The dark haired boy slips on the ice again and body slams the wall again in an effort to not fall completely, cursing under his breath. 

Eventually, after Leo and Jason passed him about five times, Leo leaves the rink, saying he was going to use the restroom. 

Jason fell back and skated very slowly next to Nico.

“What?” He snapped.

“Just checking up on you.” Jason says cooly. “You could at least take the wall out to dinner first, y’know.”

Nico glares at him and stopped full-body-hugging the wall to make a point. The point failed. He almost immediately slipped, but surprisingly, Jason caught him.

“It’s okay. Everyone’s totally shit when they first start.” He comforts.

“Really?” Nico asks.

“Well, yeah. You’re, like, especially shit though.”

Nico starts to scowl again. Jason puts his hands up defensively, an amused smile working his way onto his face.

“Dude, relax. I can show you some tips if you want. Y’know, before Leo comes back.”

Nico’s grudge tells him no. Nico’s wobbly knees tells him yes.

Jason begins instructing him, firstly in what he should do if he falls (cause let’s face it, it’s a likely outcome) and secondly, how to skate without stomping on the ice.

Nico follows his advice with a twitch in his eye and grit between his teeth, but eventually je started slowly making his way around the ice rink. His knees wobbled and he had his arms stuck out for balance, but at least he’s not grasping the wall anymore.

Jason calmly skates beside him. Backwards, he might add, which might just be to piss Nico off. 

“Are you gay?” Jason asks out of nowhere. He has his hand on his chin like the statue of The Thinker.

Nico stumbles. “What? Ew, what makes you say that?”

Jason blinks at him, like it’s obvious. “Dude, _Leo_. You totally have a thing for him.”

“I do not!” Nico protests. He thanks the ice rink for the cold, because his cheeks are definitely heating up. 

Jason twists a strand of blond. “It’s totally okay if you are, though. And i mean, you get this really constipated look on your face when i’m around, but it’s elevated when i’m around _and_ Leo’s around.” Jason looks Nico dead in the eyes. The black haired boy still can’t wrap his head around that This Is Happening. “I can assure you, we are not together.”

Nico bites the inside of his cheek. This information is both relieving and terrifying, because _Jason knows._ He seems okay with it, but people get hate-crimed for being like Nico. 

“....He’s always touching you.” Nico says slowly.

“That’s because he’s comfortable with me.” Jason replies. “And i’d hope so, ive known him for several years. It takes a while for Leo to be comfortable with people. Does he not do that with you?”

Nico remembers on Christmas Eve where Leo fell asleep with his head on Nico’s shoulder. “Sometimes. But never....so casual.”

Jason nods, like he knows this already. Like he’s an expert on all things Leo. “That’s because you make him nervous. Which leads me to believe he might like you.”

Nico is stunned. “How do you even know all this shit?”

Jason laughs and it makes his skating wobble, which sends way too much satisfaction to Nico’s heart to be considered healthy. “I don’t know, man. I’m super observant to other people’s love lives, but when it comes to my own? Totally clueless.” He stops himself. “Speaking of love lives, Leo has been gone for a while.”

“Yeah, he has.” Nico says, before remembering it’s _Leo_. “Oh shit. Yeah. He has.”

* * *

Jason and Nico rushed to the exit of the rink and back into the lobby, where after a minute of looking around they spotted Leo in an area near the concession stand. Next to him was a security guard, an angry mother, and her child.

“Goddammit.” Jason mutters. 

They rush closer and catch a snippet of what the mother was saying. “—I mean, who gives this to a _child_?! For all I know, he could be a predator or—or a _human trafficker_ for fuck’s sake!”

“Ma’am, please calm down.” The security guard plactates her. 

“Leo, what did you do?” Jason demands.

The curly haired boy threw his hands up and gave Nico his best innocent-looking face. “I don’t know! I was just trying to give Jack here a bracelet—“

“Don’t say his name!” The mother cried incredulously. 

If Nico was religious he would’ve crossed himself. _The_ _bracelet_. How could he forget? Leo made four of them, and Charles had refused his, which means there was one left....

Dick, ballsack, and caca—it’s a safe bet to say the fourth one wasn’t _“rainbows”._

The little kid, who Nico is guessing was about the age of seven, held his wrist up innocently. Of course, in big lettered beads, was the word ‘CUNT’. 

In the end, Jason forced an apology out of Leo, took back the bracelet, and slipped the angry Mom five bucks, grabbing Leo by the shoulder and ducking out before he had the chance to aggravate her again. 

Once back inside the ice rink, Jason turned to Leo. “You are such an idiot.”

“What?” Leo say cluelessly. “The kid said he wanted a bracelet.”

Nico rolls his eyes. “Pretty sure he didn’t want one of yours.”

Leo mumbles something about nobody appreciating his art, but Nico doesn’t listen as he grabs him by the arm of his puffer Jacket and skates to the center of the rink. 

Leo laughs. His cheeks and nose are rosy with the cold and his breath stands out in the air. “What are we doing out here Nico? And when did you learn to—“

“Shush.” Nico puts a finger to Leo’s lips and he looks down at it. “We’re skating.”

And skate they did. In shaky circles and doing little dumb hops that hurt their ankles, they skated, laughing the whole time. Best part? Jason wasn’t in sight.

Nico grabbed Leo’s hands and they both leaned back, and for a moment, they spun together, and everything was perfect and Hallmark-movie-like and—

They both fell. 

Nico fell on his ass and Leo fell on his side, both erupting into laughter as their limbs tangled together and the ice chilled through their clothes. They both tried to get up again, and fell down again.

Leo was smiling so hard at him, that for a second, Nico forgot how to breath. The air seemed to still in his body for so long it crystalized, icing his lungs and stopping his heart completely.

And then, Jason skates over to help them up, and it restarts. But it’s not a bad restart. The bad feeling in his chest is gone.

Not a bad restart at all. 

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> leos beacelets looked something like this but less cute lol: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/12/6c/71/126c71844c7b0d64eccaa123f84e69e7.jpg


End file.
